In the early morning of December 13, Beijing time, the 17th round of serie A ushered in a focus battle: Napoli vs Empoli.
In the 16th round, Napoli, who had been leading the season for a long time, lost 2:3 at home to Atalanta, falling from the top spot to third, AC Milan, who beat Salenytana 2-0 at home, to the top of the table, and Inter, who beat Roma 3-0 away, rose to the second place.
In the first game of this round, AC Milan was forced to draw 1:1 by Udinese, and after 17 rounds, he accumulated 39 points, and Niles could regain the top spot with a goal difference advantage in the same points as long as he beat Empoli at home. Of course, whether they can sit firmly at the top of the table depends on the result of Inter's home game against Cagliari later.
Empoli is a promoted team with limited strength, and for Napoli, beating such an opponent at home seems out of the question. But only as if.
Napoli started at home at 4231, Mertens topped the centre-forward position, forward lines Elmas, Onas, Lozano, double back Zelinski, Dem, four-back Mario Rui, Juan, Lamani, Di Lorenzo, goalkeeper Ospina. It can be seen that in Napoli, where the lineup is thin, many main players are injured, and the starting lineup has been "unrecognizable". But the total value of this set of eleven starts is still 200 million euros.
Empoli started with a starting formation of 4312, with Kutrone and Pinamonti forming a double striker. The total value of the starting eleven is only 46.7 million euros.
After the game began, Napoli, which was overall dominant, did not play a decent attack. In the 17th minute, he almost conceded a goal first, Napoli made a mistake in returning the pass, and goalkeeper Ospina struck in time to get the ball and defuse the danger.
In the 21st minute, Napoli made a passive substitution, replacing the injured Zelinsky with Insigne.
In the 22nd minute, an attack from Napoli was quite threatening, but Elmas's shot bounced off the crossbar.
In the first half, the two sides drew 0-0.
In the second half, empoli, who played away, stepped up his attack, and Kutrone, who was from the Milan academy, was very active in the front line, and a shot in the 50th minute was blocked by Ospina.
In the 68th minute, Insigne's powerful shot went straight to the goal and was saved by Empoli goalkeeper.
In the 70th minute, Napoli conceded the ball! Empoli's corner kick was cleared and Anguiza's header was cleared off the line, only to bounce off the back of Kutrone's head and into the net. The ball, of course, counted on Kutrone.
Kutrone also helped his old club AC Milan. After a 1-0 defeat at home to Empoli, Napoli has fallen to fourth in serie A table with 36 points in 17 games, and AC Milan is still at the top of the Serie A table with 39 points.