In the 32nd round of Serie A, trying to be promoted to the "top 4" of the league table, Napoli, which won a place in the Champions League this season, attacked at home at the Stadio San Paolo (which has been renamed Diego Armando Maradona), took the initiative at the beginning of the game, and finally defeated the opponent 5-2 with the control of the game and the advantage for most of the time, continuing to chase the fourth-placed Serie A champion Juventus in the next season, maintaining the opportunity to qualify for the next season's Champions League group stage.
Although captain Lorenzo Insigne scored twice and became the main contributor to the team's successful three-pointer, the focus fell on the assist of Polish midfielder Peter Zelinski in the middle of the second half, helping the team lead to 4-0 Dris Mertens, all because the Belgian striker who pointed his finger at the sky and tearfully dedicated the goal to his grandmother, who died just a week ago, with this personal score for the team's 102nd Serie A goal. He equaled the record set by the famous Wojjak in the 1930s, becoming the player with the most Serie A goals in the team's history.
After demonstrating his stable and efficient goalscoring ability at Eredivisie powerhouse Eindhoven in early May, Dris Mertens was recruited by Spain's then-Napoli manager Benitez in the summer of 2013, when he was recruited by the Spanish coach Benitez, who was then the manager of Napoli, and became the first player to sign after the latter joined Napoli. Although Dris Mertens had many opportunities to play under Benitez, due to the presence of Argentine striker Higuain, Benitez's successor as the team's positive arrow candidate, and the offensive tactics were also established around the Argentine goalscorer, Dris Mertens could only be arranged as a winger, so it was more difficult to score goals, so he failed to show his excellent goal-scoring ability in the early days of joining.
It wasn't until Sarri took over, coupled with Higuain's departure for Juventus, and the new Polish striker Akadianus Milik who suffered a torn cruciate ligament in his knee, that Dris Mertens was able to return to the arrow position he was good at, forming an attacking trident with Lorenzo Insigne and Jose Callejon, successfully liberating his goal-scoring ability, becoming the top scorer in the squad for two consecutive seasons, and helping the team to challenge Juventus's supremacy for many years; even after Sarri left the team, who had coached Juventus, AC Milan and other Serie A giants Ancelotti took over as manager, and Arcadius Milik also returned from injury, all of which did not prevent Dris Mertens from being the main player in the squad.
By the time former AC Milan star Gattuso took office as manager, the elderly Dris Mertens was still valued by him and maintained a steady goal scoring rate; this season, although the Belgian veteran was plagued by ankle injuries, which affected his playing time, but as long as he played, he was able to deliver satisfactory performances, and this season has played 23 league games for the team, scoring 9 goals and making 8 assists, including goals against Lazio, making him the player with the most goals in Serie A in the team's history.
Although only 1.69 meters tall, Dris Mertens has excellent ball control, passing and twisting skills, and is good at organizing attacks, likes to cooperate with teammates, and plays hard, is good at walking and catching positions, and then uses superb shooting skills to score goals, so this forward who can play the winger, forward, auxiliary forward and center will have a comprehensive style and will become an important force for Napoli to win tickets to the Champions League in the coming season.