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Napoli won a comfortable 3-1 victory in the first leg against Zurich in the knockout stages of the Europa League at Stadion Letzigrund on Thursday night.
The Partenopei quickly took the lead as Lorenzo Insigne threw himself into a scream of the goalkeepers before Jose Callejon doubled the advantage shortly thereafter.
Piotr Zielinski's mazy dribble and finish reinforce Napoli's lead in the second half, before Benjamin Kololli claims a consolation goal from the penalty spot.
Napoli could not have hoped for a better start, as he only had 12 minutes to score the first goal.
After opting for a short pbad from goal kick to teammate Andreas Maxso, goalkeeper Yanick Brecher improperly controlled the ball back and was stolen by Arkadiusz Milik. The Polish striker had the simple task of battling Insignia with an empty goal.
Napoli was starting to adopt the style and Insigne forced the save of his finger for 20 minutes with a vicious shot from the range.
Moments later, the Italian swept the ball to allow Kevin Malcuit, who was in a hurry, to shoot a low center and Callejon made no mistake in coming back to the far post.
At the start of the second half, Zurich's sloppy play proved almost costly once again as Umaru Bangura was stolen from the back by Milik to allow Insigne to slip Callejon into the box. The low cross shot of the Spaniard was swept by Maxso while Milik was waiting.
As the half started, the match became more and more contested, even though Napoli was threatening a third, but Kalidou Koulibaly's head was deflected off the head.
There was no doubt about the result with a quarter of an hour left, thanks to a superb goal by Zielinski. The Polish international caught in the center of Callejón and jumped into a host of tackles before shooting.
However, Zurich fought back, but substitute Antonio Marchesano ruined a great opportunity by bringing Alain Nef's record back over the bar in the box.
The Swiss club had a series of late-game corners and their penalty shoot-out ended up with a goal. Nef had a blow with a head down that channeled Nikola Maksovic's arm into the box, and Kololli had a cold penalty from Alex Meret.
In the midst of stoppage time, Zurich almost bridged the gap as Hekuran Kryeziu met a looped center with a superb volley that separated the crossbar.
However, Napoli has held on to a solid lead before the second leg at Stadio San Paolo next Thursday.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com
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