ROME — Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored in the second half as Napoli eventually broke down Cagliari 2-1 at home in Serie A and moved provisionally up to fourth in the standings.
Champions Napoli, who has struggled at home this season having gained just one point in their previous four league games at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, moved up two places to fourth on 27 points from 16 games.
They are 11 points behind leaders Inter Milan and two above fifth-placed AS Roma, Reuters reported.
Napoli is still adapting to a midseason coaching change where Walter Mazzarri replaced the fired Rudi Garcia. There were boos when the first half ended 0-0 despite numerous chances for the Partenopei.
Osimhen took over when he rose to meet a cross from Mario Rui with a powerful header. The ball went directly at Simone Scuffet but the Cagliari goalkeeper couldn´t stop it.
Leonardo Pavoletti equalized three minutes later when he got past Napoli defender Juan Jesus to redirect in a cross.
Then Osimhen drew the entire defense toward him and set up the winner with his dribbling show, AP reported.
The effort for the assist appeared to leave Osimhen with an injured groin but he didn´t come off.
The start of the match was delayed for a half hour after strong winds prompted an inspection of the stadium roof. While there was no damage, the inspection delayed fans´ entrance.
Osimhen posed with his African player of the year award – having flown to Morocco earlier in the week to pick it up. Osimhen won the honor ahead of Achraf Hakimi and Mohamed Salah.
For his first Serie A goal, Ylber Ramadani scored an 89th-minute winner as Lecce beat Frosinone 2-1 in a matchup of promoted teams. Ramadani´s long-distance shot took a deflection to decide the match at Stadio Via del Mare.
Roberto Piccoli put Lecce ahead early before Kaio Jorge equalized for Frosinone with a penalty half an hour in.
With its first win since September, Lecce leapfrogged Frosinone into 12th place.
