Tuesday 20 December 2016

Napoli 5-3 Torino

Torino fell to a third consecutive defeat as Dries Mertens scored a nine minute hat trick in a 5-3 loss to Napoli on Sunday afternoon.

Sinisa Mihajlovic changed his favoured starting eleven with Emiliano Moretti coming in to replace Leandro Castan and Davide Zappacosta replacing Iago Falque.

However, Toro made a terrible start and were behind after only thirteen minutes as they fell asleep at a corner and that allowed Dries Mertens to convert Jose Callejon's low cross.

Five minutes later Mertens was brought down in the area by Antonio Barreca, and the Belgian stepped up himself to send Joe Hart the wrong way and double Napoli's lead.

The former PSV man then completed his hat trick at the second attempt after initially being denied by a Luca Rossettini clearance.

Toro had a lifeline on the hour mark when Andrea Belotti stabbed home from close range, but Napoli's three goal lead was re-established when Vlad Chiriches finished off an excellent team move.

However, six minutes later an error from Pepe Reina allowed Rossettini to score his first goal for Torino.

But this match was the Dries Mertens show, and he scored his fourth goal of the game - a sensational chip over Joe Hart who was only inches off his line.

There was still time for Toro to score a third goal, as Iago Falque scored a penalty after being pushed in the area by Jose Callejon. However, despite scoring three goals at the San Paolo, this was a night to forget for Torino.

Forza Toro

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