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Adam Ounas was the man of the match with a goal and help for Simone Verdi while Napoli beat FC Zurich 2-0 and reached the Europa League 16 with a cumulative score of 5-1.
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The Partenopei had won 3-1 in Switzerland, which could lead to a relaxation in this match going against a Stadio San Paolo almost empty. With Mario Rui and Raul Albiol injured, Vlad Chiriches had his first appearance of the season, having torn his ACL in early September. Hekuran Kryeziu was suspended for the visitors, who made many changes for this trip.
Lorenzo Insigne's lob ran through the farthest corner and almost gave Dries Mertens a decisive pbad in the opening minutes, but Assan Ceesay's head cleared Adrian Winter's center.
Badge opened the score in half-volley with the help of a badist from Piotr Zielinski. He then had a double chance when the first attempt to knock out Simone Verdi was reduced and the bounce touched the crossbar.
Mertens got a free kick on the Insigne free kick just before half-time, which forced Yanick Brecher to make a tough save, which managed to get him to the base of the post.
Ounas has always been very impressive and he played a decisive role in the first goal. He cut the inside of the right, dribbled three balls and placed a ball in the back post to allow Verdi to score on the fly, hitting her in the ground. It was the first European goal of the ex-man from Bologna.
Just after the restart, Zurich missed a golden opportunity to put the two teams tied, while Benjamin Kololli faced Elseid Hysaj and badped the center of Salim Khelifi, who was totally missing his recovery of the head on a pbad of seven meters.
Faouzi Ghoulam did not get an obvious penalty when he softened Winter and was shot in the box, but the referee incredibly stirred the game. We should not even need VAR for a such incident.
Brecher's legs were violently blocked by Ounas, but Koulibaly was hit by a corner. The powerful shot of the opponent Lavdim Zumberi was very wide.
Ounas added a goal to the man 's performance of the match, while he was running towards Mertens' slip rule pbad and crashed to the first post with his right foot.
Arkadiusz Milik left the bench and made a spectacular strike with his left foot wide, but Brecher managed to send it home.
It would have taken 3-0 in stoppage time when Napoli tried a free-kick from Zurich over the counter, but Mertens drove him to the front of goal and Milik failed to make contact 30 cm from the surface.
Naples 2-0 Zurich (5-1 agg)
Verdi 43 (N), Ounas 76 (N)
Naples: Meret; Hysaj, Chiriches (Luperto 56), Koulibaly, Ghoulam; Ounas (Milik 77), Diawara, Zielinski (Allan 66), Verdi; Badge, Mertens
FC Zurich: Brecher; Winter, Bangura, M. Kryeziu, Kololli (Kharabadze 82); Khelifi, Sohm, Domgjoni, Schonbachler (Krasniqi 65); Odey (Zumberi 60), Ceesay
Ref: Sidiropoulos (GRE)
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