Venezia adds to Napoli woes with first Serie A win
Napoli's stuttering start to its Serie A campaign continued on Sunday (AEDT) as Kevin De Bruyne's penalty miss proved costly in a 1-0 defeat to lowly Venezia at Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo.
Venezia came into the game as the only team in the division yet to register a point, but took the lead in the 49th minute when Akor Adams found a way past Alex Meret.
De Bruyne then saw his penalty saved by Filip Stankovic in the second half, and despite dominating the closing stages, Napoli could not find a way past the Venezia goalkeeper.
Massimiliano Allegri made five changes to the team that beat Frosinone last time out, and those alterations made for a disjointed opening as Adams's bouncing shot was saved by Meret before John Yeboah saw his attempt go well wide.
But Venezia needed Ridgeciano Haps to be in the right place at the right time to clear Amir Rrahmani's effort off the line, with Scott McTominay's deflected shot then looping over.
The hosts took the lead four minutes after the restart through Adams, who saw his strike deflect off Rrahmani and past Meret after the Napoli defender failed to deal with Simon Sohm's hopeful ball over the top.
Allegri responded by making a triple substitution, with De Bruyne, Alisson Santos and Rasmus Hojlund thrown on, and the latter almost made an immediate impact, but Juan Jesus brilliantly cleared Santos's cross off the line with the Dane lurking in the box.
Napoli was then handed a glorious chance to draw level in the 66th minute when Matias Moreno chopped down Hojlund in the area, but De Bruyne's spot-kick was superbly kept out by Stankovic.
Stankovic provided more heroics to ensure Venezia's first league win since returning to Serie A.
He first clawed Stanislav Lobotka's shot from distance behind before he got down low to repel Matteo Politano, with Santos also seeing an effort cleared off the line by Haps as the hosts held on for a memorable win.
Kevin De Bruyne
SSC Napoli
