Highlight Salernitana 0 - 1 Napoli - Napoli claim bragging rights in Campania derby

Despite both teams going down to ten men, SSC Napoli overcame Salernitana 1-0 at Stadio Arechi - which was just the second time in their history that they have won ten of their opening 11 Serie A games.

Nineteenth place Salernitana were looking to cause a huge upset against top of the table Napoli who had only dropped two points this whole Serie A campaign. To the hosts credit they defended brilliantly from the start, making it incredibly difficult for Napoli to break them down and create any clear cut chances even though they retained over 70% possession. 

It was clear this was a derby game, with plenty of fiesty tackles flying in during the first half which unfortunately accompanied any real quality from either side in the final third, leaving the scores level at 0-0 at HT.

Napoli finally got their breakthrough just after the hour mark, and against the run of play, when Matteo Politano’s header struck the crossbar which the hosts failed to clear the loose ball, leaving Piotr Zieliński in space to sneak in and slot home for 1-0. 

Things then went from bad to worse for the hosts, Grigoris Kastanos was initially booked for a nasty challenge on André-Frank Zambo Anguissa but after consulting the pitchside monitor referee Michael Fabbri upgraded his decision to a red card, leaving Salernitana with ten men with over twenty minutes left to play.

Fabbri ended up having a very busy evening as seven minutes later he brandished another red card, this time for Napoli captain Kalidou Koulibaly after was adjudged to have pulled back Simy to deny him a clear goal scoring opportunity. 

The resulting free-kick from Franck Ribéry was wonderfully saved by David Ospina. Salernitana continued to push for an equaliser but despite losing their star defender, and the addition of six stoppage-time minutes, Napoli defended bravely to hold on to their narrow victory. The win sees Napoli stay on top of Serie A after eleven games, whilst Salernitana remain in the drop zone, one point behind 17th place Genoa.