Nine-man Napoli implodes as Roma wins ill-tempered clash
Napoli's Serie A title defence flew completely off the rails as what should have been a day of celebration for star man Victor Osimhen turned into a nightmare before Christmas after he and Matteo Politano were sent off in a 2-0 defeat to Roma.
Osimhen had announced earlier in the day that he'd committed his long-term future to the club with which he won the Scudetto last season, signing a contract extension to 2026, but any thoughts of defending that championship were washed away today as Roma moved above the defending champion into sixth place.
Walter Mazzarri's side is now a distant 17 points off leader Inter Milan, and defeat at Stadio Olimpico completed a horror week for the boss, coming after a humiliating 4-0 defeat to Frosinone in the Coppa Italia just days ago.
Roma came into the match with its boss, Jose Mourinho, also under some pressure and for large parts of this match, it seemed that would not be eased as chances proved hard to come by.
Edoardo Bove had the first realistic chance to open the scoring when he guided a fine shot from distance on to the Napoli crossbar in the 18th minute.
Bove found himself with an even better chance two minutes later, but could beat Alex Meret from five yards after Andrea Belotti had done brilliantly to feed the youngster what should have been a perfect assist.
Osimhen got his first real taste of the action when he controlled a long ball with his chest 10 minutes before the break and wriggled his way into the box before taking a dramatic tumble under pressure from Leandro Paredes.
Replays showed Paredes had caught the 24-year-old star in the face with a flailing arm, but it wasn't deemed enough for either onfield officials or VAR to award a spot-kick.
Osimhen tried his luck with an overhead kick five minutes later, but it went wide, and the stalemate held into the half-time interval.
Belotti tried something similar on the hour but was booked in the process, but Roma was handed a gift in the 65th minute when Politano was shown a straight red for a petulant kick at Nicola Zalewski after he'd been held by the Roma player.
Roma took full toll of its numerical advantage 10 minutes later when it piled forward down the right side. The ball was worked into the box, where it bounced around erratically before Lorenzo Pellegrini produced a stunning finish to fire home and open the scoring.
Romelu was denied by a super save from Meret on 84 minutes before Osimhen's brain explosion saw him collect a second yellow card as he fould Stephan El Shaarawy, preventing a Roma breakaway.
In the sixth minute of stoppage-time, Napoli could do nothing to stop another Roma breakaway as Lukaku started and finished a move that saw four Roma players up against one, and overload the visitors couldn't cope with and Lukaku produced a composed left-foot finish to seal all three points.
