At 01:00 Beijing time on December 13, the 17th round of Serie A, Napoli hosted the promoted Mannpoli. In the first half, Zelinsky retired injured; in the second half, Kutrone broke the deadlock. In the end, Empoli beat Napoli 1-0, who suffered a three-round winless league defeat.
In the 21st minute, Zelinsky was injured and could not hold on, and Insigne came off the bench. Judging from the live broadcast, the Polish international had a similar breathing problem with Lindelof. Fortunately, after the game, Napoli officially confirmed that after the relevant inspections, Zelinsky was not in serious trouble.
In the 70th minute, Empoli drove in a corner kick from the left, Anguiza's header was cleared and the ball bounced right over the back of Kutrone's head and into the net! Empoli leads 1-0! Facing Leicester City in midweek, Napoli's two goals conceded also came from set-pieces.
In the 87th minute, Elmas was kicked in a small leg and was also forced to retire injured.
In the end, Napoli lost 1-0 to Empoli, while also losing two big players. The last time they lost at home to Empoli was 14 years ago.
Napoli had a smooth start to the season, winning 10 and drawing 2 in the first 12 rounds, pushing Milan to lead the way, but with the devil's schedule starting and several main players injured, Spalletti's side has only won 1, drawn 1 and lost 3 in the last 5 rounds, with 4 points. The ranking also slipped to 4th place. In the final round of the Europa League group in midweek, Napoli won the second place in the group 3-2 with a counterattack from Kleist City and advanced to the play-offs, everything was going in a good direction, but they were again exposed to the cold.
In the next round, Napoli will head to San Siro to face title rival AC Milan. If they lose again, they will be thrown off by 6 points.