Napoli faced another setback in their Serie A title defence as they suffered a 3-0 defeat to Torino on Sunday. Goals from Antonio Sanabria, Nikola Vlasic, and Alessandro Buongiorno propelled the hosts into the top 10, dealing a blow to Napoli’s aspirations in the league.
With only one victory in their last six league matches, Napoli has slipped to ninth place in the standings with 28 points. They now trail league leaders Inter Milan by 20 points and are just one point ahead of Torino at the midway point of the season.
Torino capitalized on the advantage when Napoli was reduced to 10 men after second-half substitute Pasquale Mazzocchi, recently signed from Salernitana, received a red card for a high-boot challenge on Valentino Lazaro just five minutes into his debut.
Torino head coach Ivan Juric commented on the victory, stating ” It is not the most beautiful victory. With the sending- off it all became a bit easier today, but I have experienced many beautiful matches at the helm of Toro”.
The hosts took the lead just before halftime when Ivan Ilic’s free kick deflected off Duvan Zapata, setting up Sanabria for a quick finish. Vlasic doubled Torino’s lead early in the second half, and Buongiorno sealed the victory with a header from Lazaro’s corner kick shortly after the hour mark.
Sanabria, who signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday, expressed his happiness with the result, saying, “Perfect week with renewal and goods, I am very happy to have extended with this club.”
Napoli, now looking to turn their fortunes around, will host bottom side Salernitana on Saturday, while Torino aims to continue their momentum in their upcoming fixture against Genoa.