Serie A | Cagliari 0-1 Napoli: McTominay sends Partenopei above Milan

An early strike from Scott McTominay was enough for Napoli to hold onto as Antonio Conte and his team picked up a 1-0 victory away against Cagliari in Serie A on Friday evening; their fourth win on the spin and a result that has sent them into second place in the league table.

McTominay and Kevin De Bruyne were able to start alongside each other for the first time in almost five months, dating back to a 3-1 victory over league leaders Inter in October. The 15th-placed Cagliari boasted two recently called-up Italy internationals in Elia Caprile and Marco Palestra. Napoli had four in their camp: Alex Meret, Alessandro Buongiorno, Leonardo Spinazzola and Matteo Politano. 

Antonio Conte’s side had won all three of their previous Serie A matches heading into tonight’s game, all by 2-1 margins, while the hosts were without a win across their last six. 

Click here to see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog. 

It took just over 60 seconds for McTominay to find the net on his return to the starting line-up. The Scotland international got his side ahead from the first corner of the game, which went short to Politano and pinballed around the area before the Scotland international managed to tap in on the goalline. 

From there, the first half became a fairly evenly contested, albeit slightly scrappy affair. Conte was twice visibly annoyed by misplaced passes from Buongiorno and Gilmour out of the back, giving possession away far too cheaply.

Napoli’s only other shot on target of the first half came from a fairly tame Politano free-kick, while Cagliari came closest through Sebastiano Esposito, who flashed an effort across the face of Vanja Milinkovic-Savic’s goal from a tight angle. 

De Bruyne almost got the better of Caprile with a low, driven effort from the edge of the area, but the recently called-up Italy international was able to parry and his defenders were able to clear in the end. 

Napoli saw a glimpse of what their star players are capable of when McTominay, De Bruyne and Politano linked up with some beautiful one-touch play in the Cagliari area, but Caprile did well to smother his compatriot when he found himself on the edge of the six-yard box.

Cagliari have not won any of their games this season when they have been trailing half-way, and that proved to be the case again despite their best efforts on Friday evening. 

Fabio Piscane’s winless run has now been extended to seven matches, with just two points earned over that period, while Conte and his team have now won four in a row and currently find themselves in second place in the league table with Milan due to play on Saturday.

Cagliari 0-1 Napoli 

McTominay 2’