Napoli plunged deeper into crisis on Sunday after crashing to a 3-0 defeat at Torino which ended with fiery protests from fans and humiliation for the troubled Serie A champions.
Furious supporters launched flares onto the pitch at the Stadio Olimpico Grande Torino during the latest embarrassing loss which left Napoli languishing in ninth place.
Last season’s historic Scudetto has now been forgotten as Napoli sink further into the abyss with each passing week, their third defeat in four matches in all competitions fully deserved after a shambolic display in Turin.
Without Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen, Walter Mazzarri’s side failed to score for the fourth straight match and are completely unrecognisable from the team which charged to title glory last term.
“We have to apologise to the fans for the performance… we’re trying to find ways to stimulate the team and get back to some sort of normality,” said Napoli’s sporting director Mauro Meluso.
Meluso spoke to DAZN after a series of post-match summits with Mazzarri and the team, and insisted that the coach — who was suspended for Sunday’s match — would not be sacked.
“I, the club and the team have total faith in the coach, so we’re not having thoughts in that direction,” he added.
Mazzarri was brought in to clean up the mess left by predecessor Rudi Garcia but Napoli are now a full 20 points behind league leaders Inter Milan and closer to the relegation zone than the top of the table.
Antonio Sanabria got the ball rolling two minutes before the break when he scored from close range, and things went from bad to worse in the 50th minute when debutant Pasquale Mazzocchi was sent off for a wild challenge on Valentino Lazaro.
Mazzocchi, who signed from Salernitana on Friday, had only been on the field since the start of the second half and two minutes later Nikola Vlasic doubled Torino’s lead with a brilliant low strike from outside the area.
Napoli were all over the place and they should have been three down just after the hour mark when Sanabria hit the post and Duvan Zapata somehow didn’t finish on the rebound.
However Alessandro Buongiorno made sure of an emphatic victory in the 66th minute when he thumped a bullet header past Pierluigi Gollini.
– Milan cruise –
A sumptuous early strike from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Olivier Giroud’s 31st minute penalty set third-placed AC Milan on the way to a 3-0 win at Empoli which was sealed by Chaka Traore with two minutes remaining.
Missing a host of players to injury and the Africa Cup of Nations, Milan took advantage of their closest rivals for the top four dropping points.
Stefano Pioli’s team are six points ahead of fourth-placed Fiorentina who lost 1-0 at Sassuolo on Saturday, and a further point in front of Bologna in fifth following their draw at Genoa.
Milan have had a bumpy campaign riddled with injuries and questions over Pioli’s future but Sunday’s win was their fifth in six matches in all competitions.
“We went through a bit of a difficult period… We never listened to what other people were saying, we got down to hard work and that’s why we won today,” said Theo Hernandez, who was again deputising at centre-back.
France international Hernandez is a buccaneering left-back by trade but has been forced to move to the centre of defence by an injury crisis which has left Pioli without defenders Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Pierre Kalulu.
“It’s in the difficult moments that you learn if people have given up on you, and that wasn’t the case here,” said Pioli.
“When things don’t go well we stay together and we give each other a hand.”
Milan trail city rivals Inter by nine points and are four behind second-placed Juventus, who play Salernitana later on Sunday.
Lazio warmed up for their midweek derby with Roma in the Italian Cup quarter-finals by winning 2-1 at Udinese and moving up to sixth.
