Previous Story
Napoli Shocks Dortmund
Napoli continued with their impressive home form in the Champions League by recording a 2-1 victory over 10-man Dortmund on Wednesday evening at the San Paolo.
Gonzalo Higuain opened the scoring for the Partenopei in the first half and that was followed up by Lorenzo Insigne’s second half strike. Juan Zuniga also got on the score sheet, however, it was on the wrong end of the field as he struck an own goal.
Napoli came into the fixture riding a wave of confidence after their league win over Atalanta on the weekend meant they and Roma remain the only teams in Serie A to have taken maximum points off their opponents.
But they knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task against the Germans, who finished as last season’s runners-up in the Champions League.
The opening ten minutes was quite a cagey affair between the two teams and in the 11th minute a ball broke kindly to Gökhan Inler on the left edge of the penalty area. He struck the effort with power but it went wide of the far post, failing to trouble Roman Weidenfeller.
Napoli were doing well to peg the German’s back and Gonzalo Higuain nearly scored in the 17th minute when his ball headed towards goal. However, Neven Suboti? appeared from nowhere and made a splendid recovery tackle to clear the danger.
Dortmund’s first significant effort of the half fell 10 minutes later when Marco Reus slipped through a pass to Roberto Lewandowski. The striker took a shoot which Pepe Reina bravely blocked with his legs.
The hosts deservingly took the lead just before the half hour. Juan Zúñiga sent in a cross from the left towards the penalty spot, and Higuaín did well to get in front of Marcel Schmelzer to head the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.
There was a dramatic end to the first-half as goalkeeper Weidenfeller was shown red in the first minute of extra time after he was penalised for handling the ball outside the box.
As a result, Mitchell Langerak, the reserve goalkeeper, was brought on and Jakub Blaszcykowski sacrificed.
With a man’s advantage it was all too easy for Napoli as they turned the score line to 2-0 midway through the second half. Lorenzo Insigne struck the ball from a free-kick and it bent around the wall and in off the underside of the bar, giving the second choice shot-stopper Langerak no chance.
In the final three minutes of play, Dortmund were gifted a consolation goal when Zuniga shockingly turned the ball into the back of his own net. He volleyed it in at the far post from a cross made by Marco Reus, making it 2-1 at the finish.
