Madness is the only way to describe Napoli’s 4-3 win over Fiorentina on Saturday evening. Two dubious penalties, mistakes, posts, it had the lot.
Fiorentina, who narrowly escaped relegation last season, were a team rejuvenated. The fans turned up in droves with new owner Rocco Commisso doing a pre-match lap of honour in front of the 33,000 in the Stadio Franchi.
Erick Pulgar opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Piotr Zielinski handled in the box. With VAR ruling he made his body ‘unnaturally bigger’ using his arms.
It was a lead that Fiorentina deserved. Vincenzo Montella’s side played with verve but they were left stunned just before the break as Dries Mertens curled one into the top corner, just out of Bartlomiej Dragowski’s reach.
Four minutes later it was Lorenzo Insigne who scored from the spot, after Mertens was deemed to have been tripped by Gaetano Castrovilli.
After the break the 16 minute period of madness ensued. Nikola Milenkovic levelled with a header, then Jose Callejon drilled one into the bottom corner to put Napoli ahead, before Kevin-Prince Boateng did the same at the other end to restore parity.
Finally it was Mertens, Insigne and Callejon who combined once again, with he Belgian finding the Spaniard, who had beat the offside trap, on the right, and he crossed for the Italian to head into an empty net.
In time added on there was further controversy as Franck Ribery was pulled back by Giovanni Di Lorenzo on the edge of the penalty area but referee Davide Massa waved play on and refused to consult VAR.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com