Manama, August 15 (BNA): New player Khvicha Kvaratskhelia may help Napoli forget all the players who left out of the season, the Associated Press reports.
The 21-year-old, who signed from Georgian club Dinamo Batumi last month, provided a goal and assist to help Napoli win 5-2 at Hellas Verona in their opening match of the new Serie A.
This means that all potential title contenders won their opening matches, with only Juventus to play later, at home against Sassuolo.
Napoli finished third last season, but there were question marks over how they performed after the departures of several key players such as captain Lorenzo Insigne, historic scorer Dries Mertens and defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
The team dominated from the start in Verona, but the hosts took the lead in the 29th minute. Napoli goalkeeper Alex Merritt managed to clear Martin Hungla’s shot over the crossbar but the resulting corner waved to the far post for Kevin Lasagna’s shot.
Andre Anguisa almost equalized in the 34th minute, but I saw him hit the left post. But Napoli leveled the score three minutes later when Kvarratsekhelia headed home Hirving Lozano’s cross.
The transformation was complete at the end of the first half with a goal similar to the one opened by Verona when a corner kick from Napoli destined for Victor Osimhen for a shot into the far corner.
There were reports of racist chants coming from Hellas Verona fans and Osimhen, who is black, responded by pretending to cry.
Thomas Henry scored the equalizer for Verona almost after the first half, but Napoli have been all over since then.
The visiting team regained their lead in the 55th minute when Kvaratskhelia touched a through ball with a superb pass to Peter Zelensky, who broke through the lower right corner.
Stanislav Lobotka and substitute Matteo Politano sealed the score, while Adam Unas canceled out a goal for Napoli seconds after he came on the bench.
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