Slovakian international Marek Hamsik and Belgian star Dries Mertens both hit hat-tricks as SSC Napoli routed Bologna 7-1 on Saturday to go second in Serie A, three points behind leaders Juventus ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.
Napoli have now scored 55 goals in 23 league games this season, although Maurizio Sarri’s men are still outsiders to pip Juve for the title with the defending champions having two games in hand.
Hamsik’s goals included a fine diving header and a sublime long-distance drive as he took his Napoli career total to 108 goals, passing Attila Sallustro, a star of the 1930s.
Photo: EPA
Only Diego Maradona has scored more goals for Napoli than Hamsik.
Hamsik said that the victory is a huge boost for his side, who face Real Madrid in the Champions League later this month.
“Real Madrid will think we are a strong side and if we play like this, we can fight it out with anyone,” Hamsik said.
Photo: AP
“We are all players who focus on movement and that can hurt opposition defenses,” he said,
Mertens took his season total to a league-leading 16 goals, with 12 of those coming in the past eight matches. He has scored a remarkable three hat-tricks this term.
Napoli’s other goal on Saturday came from Lorenzo Insigne, who hit the target from the penalty spot.
“We have scored many goals, yes, but in the last 12 games it’s 10 wins and two draws. This is why we have to focus only on what we do and ignore the other results,” Sarri told Sky Sport Italia.
“After a game like this I feel a little angry, as we created perhaps fewer scoring opportunities tonight than against [US Citta di] Palermo, but then we scored one and tonight seven,” he said.
The only drawback for Napoli was a red card for Jose Callejon, while Bologna’s Adam Masina was also dismissed.
Bologna coach Roberto Donadoni said he knew it would not be his night when his team found themselves 2-0 down within six minutes at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
His mood did not improve when Mattia Destro had a penalty saved.
“Our evening started badly and it was all downhill from there,” Donadoni said.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
RSS