Napoli coach, Gennaro Gattuso, has showered praises on strikers Arkadiusz Milik and Hirving Lozano for their strikes, which gave the team a 2-0 victory over Hellas Verona on Tuesday night.
The former AC Milan manager who acknowledged what the duo and Faouzi Ghoulam could give to Napoli said all his players are important, especially now that he has the chance to make five changes in a match.
In the head-to-head tie for the sixth place, Napoli wore a special edition patch marking the club record 122 goals. The record goalscorer, Dries Mertens, was rested but later brought on during the tie.
Napoli has, therefore, maintained it’s winning run after beating Juventus to the Coppa Italia trophy.
Verona got punished for missing an unbelievable chance to go ahead in the tie on 23 minutes. Marco Davide Faraoni’s volley, which should have ended at the back of the net, went across the face of goal, which Valerio Verre managed to chest over the bar undisturbed from a yard.
Napoli opened the goals account through Matteo Politano’s corner, which found Arkadiusz Milik unmarked, and the Polish flicked the header into the far bottom corner.
As Verona kept on pressing further for the equalizer, after testing David Ospina on several occasions without success. The eventually had the ball in the net on 61 minutes through Faraoni’s header at the far post. But it was canceled by a VAR review because Zaccagni had slipped before crossing, which touched his wrist for a handball.
Napoli sealed the victory in the final minute of the game. Silvestri got his hand to an Insigne strike from close range, but couldn’t stop the resulting corner from Faouzi Ghoulam, which landed on the head of substitute Lozano after rising above two defenders to nod in from a yard.
I hold no grudges against Lozano – Gattuso
Speaking to DAZN, Gattuso, who froze out the Mexican for not giving a hundred percent in training, said he holds no grudges against anyone.
“It was a good opportunity for Lozano today, and next week it might be Amin Younes. I believe firmly that when you are part of a group, you must all work in the same direction, train at 100 percent. I hold no grudges.”
He further lauded his team for solid defending, adding that they took the initiative and played well. Gattuso noted that the team is in good shape, can maintain possession, and won’t stand for conceding goals.
“We must improve when it comes to patience and not trying to force moves through, but I like the way the team plays.”
