After a first half played with concreteness and dominance, Conte's team was put down in the second half, where Pinamonti brought his team back into the game. And the victory also and above all comes from a great performance from its goalkeeper.
Without Buongiorno, in whose place Juan Jesus was deployed, Napoli took to the field at Genoa knowing they had to win by improving their play from midfield upwards. And after two minutes of sterile ball possession by the Ligurians, they shook the local crossbar with Lukaku, who kept his distance well but was not precise in his header from a cross from the right by Politano.
However, Vieira's team did not stand idly by, as they broke through well on the right in the eleventh minute. On the following cross, badly called by Di Lorenzo, Vitinha stopped and kicked, but was blocked by an attentive Rrahmani. The Azzurri attacks were mainly concentrated on the outside right, where Anguissa and Politano often gained the bottom. Then, as soon as Neres was activated on the other side, his cross was found in the area by Anguissa, whose cut was devastating. Helped by a defender's deflection on his header, the Cameroonian scored his third goal of the championship, the second in a row after the one in Udine.
Having taken the lead, Conte's team took even more courage, and after less than ten minutes they doubled their lead. Once again the decisive action developed from the left: the free kick generated by a foul on an irrepressible Neres was dished out by Lobotka, Rrahmani hit the cross with his head and found a mocking downward trajectory which ended up in the far corner. And so, as the minutes passed, the confidence in the phrasing increased among the Azzurri players, with the Slovakian director acting as the pivot of the many enveloping plots that crushed the Ligurians in their own half of the pitch.
However, the confidence was excessive in the soul of Politano, who at the beginning of the second half took risks near his own penalty area and favored a recovery of the ball following which Pinamonti found space to kick well. His curling shot, however, was deflected with a quick flick by Meret, thus avoiding the home team's immediate return. But it was only an illusion, because a few minutes later a courageous incursion by Vitinha always found Pinamonti in front of goal, and this time his shot passed between the legs of Juan Jesus and ended up at the bottom of the bag, thus igniting the Ferraris.
The emotional drive was strong for the hosts, who fought for every ball in every patch of the pitch, while the guests aimed more at counterattacks by exploiting the greater spaces left available. Anguissa was the main raider among Conte's men thanks to his pace and his timing, with Lobotka who with the ball at his feet was the first person in charge of lightening the opponent's pressing even with personal actions, such as the one that caused Sabelli to be booked beyond the 'game time. However, it was Meret who was called into action again, managing as best he could a header from Badelj aimed at the bottom corner to his right.
The intensity of the local attacks increased, with Pinamonti acting as a point of reference for all crosses from the sides. Genoa also inflated their efforts in covering the central areas of the pitch, even going so far as to corner Napoli, who around the 70th minute gritted their teeth to avoid opponent penetrations. Kvaratskhelia, on for Neres, tried to give a shock with a serpentine whose final cross was not collected, while in the 78th at 30 meters Anguissa lost a bloody ball which in turn was not exploited by Pinamonti. The Cameroonian redeemed himself shortly after with a veronica on the edge of the opponent's area following which McTominay kicked high from the first. All actions resulting from confusion and frenzy.
Vieira brought on Balotelli for Miretti to give more strength to the attack at the end, and the former Inter and Milan player hit the post with a tap-in from close range. Meret was decisive again with a dive to his left to thwart a shot aimed at the bottom corner, with his teammates dedicated exclusively to closing ranks and restarting. Genoa, however, no longer had any, and Conte took home a hard-fought victory, and without a goal from an attacker. For a pragmatist like him, however, winning matters. And today Napoli is first.
