Parma 1 - 3 Napoli - Napoli back in title hunt

Posted Sunday, March 13, 2011 by PA

Napoli returned to winning ways and rejoined the race for the Scudetto thanks to a 3-1 win over Parma.

Raffaele Palladino gave the home side a deserved lead in the 29th minute, but Napoli recovered in the second half with Ezequiel Lavezzi creating the equaliser for Marek Hamsik before putting Napoli ahead in the 56th minute.

Daniele Galloppa was given his marching orders for a dangerous foul on Hamsik in the 59th minute and Christian Maggio sealed the win for Napoli three minutes from time.

As a result, Napoli narrowed the gap on league leaders AC Milan to six points, moving back above Udinese into third place, just one point adrift of second-placed Inter Milan.

Palladino had two early chances to put Parma in front, first shooting wide after racing clear of Fabio Santacroce in the second minute and then testing Morgan De Sanctis a minute later.

He made it third time lucky in the 29th minute, scoring with his technically most difficult chance with a volley from 12 yards from a corner.

Napoli were unable to find a foothold in the game until the second half, when they emerged with a more positive attitude, and they turned the game on its head in the space of five minutes.

Hamsik brought them level in the 52nd minute when he latched onto Lavezzi's cross and, despite being in an offside position, the goal was still allowed to stand.

The roles were reversed four minutes later when Hamsik provided the assist for Lavezzi, who broke into the penalty area and sent his low shot into the far corner.

Parma's hopes of recovering were dealt a blow three minutes later when Galloppa was given his marching orders for going in with his leg high on Hamsik.

And the rest of the game belonged to Napoli, who tempted Parma to attack them and broke in numbers to try to finish them off.

However, they were a bit wasteful with their chances and had to wait until the 87th minute before sealing the win.

Ten minutes earlier, Juan Zuniga and Edinson Cavani both failed to capitalise on a two-against-one situation with the former's volley deflected wide of the post.

Maggio then got a lucky break with Massimo Paci's clearance rebounding off Walter Gargano's back into the Napoli full-back's path, and he made no mistake in beating Mirante with another low shot into the far corner.