Video Napoli 3 - 0 Legia: Gli Azzurri hit top-gear to kick-start UEL campaign

Napoli ignited their UEFA Europa League (UEL) campaign with a hard-fought 3-0 victory over Legia Warsaw, as their bid to qualify from a sixth successive UEL group stage finally took lift-off.

A faltering start to their UEL campaign ensured this game was essentially a must-win for Napoli, and it was reflected in their frantic start. A 100-mph start led to ‘Gli Azzurri’ setting up camp in the Legia half, but despite plenty of huff and puff, they couldn’t find a way to breach a defensive unit yet to concede a goal. 

Napoli’s best chance of the half was manufactured in scrappy circumstances, with Dries Mertens picking up the scraps from a long-ball before flashing a volley across the face of goal.

Legia had a 100% UEL record coming into tonight, so if Napoli expected an easy night, they would be sorely mistaken. ‘Wojskowi’ almost went ahead through Ernest Muçi, but some ‘body-on-the-line’ defending was enough to see Napoli into HT with their clean sheet intact. 

The second half followed a familiar pattern, with the hosts pinning Legia firmly into their own half, and Diego Demme couldn’t have come much closer to firing Napoli into a deserved lead, but he cut-across his effort too much and bent it agonisingly wide of the post.

Napoli continued to press hard and almost got caught cold when Mahir Emreli rattled the woodwork, but with the frame of the goal still shaking, Lorenzo Insigne swept home beautifully from Matteo Politano’s cross. 

Insigne then turned provider, as he found Victor Osimhen who sealed victory just five minutes later, racing through on goal and finishing with aplomb to inflict a first UEL defeat of the season on Legia.

Matteo Politano added insult to injury with a third in stoppage-time, however, the Polish outfit can take heart from the fact they still sit pretty at the top of Group C.