Ten-man Napoli thrashed by PSV despite strong McTominay performance

 ROME – Napoli were left humiliated after a 6-2 defeat at the hands of PSV in Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday evening.

 Going into the matchday three, the Italian team, who won Serie A last season, were sitting on three points whereas PSV were on one point, having not yet found a win.

 The first half started off slowly, with the two teams evenly matched and unable to find a goal. In the 31^st minute, however, Scottish superstar Scott McTominay opened the scoring for Napoli with a glancing header finding the back of the net.

 Only four minutes later PSV were to find the equaliser, thanks to an own goal from Alessandro Buongiorno before they gained the lead in the 38^th minute following a stunning strike from Ismael Saibari. The first half ended with the hosts 2-1 up, a comeback was still in Napoli’s sights.

 The second half, however, saw PSV dominate. Dennis Man opened the second half scoring with a tap in which saw the ball pass through the legs of the Napoli defender, Sam Beukema, to cross the line in the 54^th minute.

 The game then settled, with neither team able to score for the next twenty minutes, despite PSV’s constant attempts at goal. However, things changed when Napoli Lorenzo Lucca was shown a red card for arguing with the referee in the 76^th minute, meaning the Partenopei went down to ten men in the last minutes of the game.

 The Dutch side profited off this now-weakened Napoli side, with Man scoring once again with a powerful strike from just outside the box in the 80^th minute.

 In an attempt to find some redemption, Napoli managed to score from a corner in the 86^th minute to make the score 4-2, thanks to another McTominay header.

 The hosts did not relent, with Ricardo Pepi finding the back of the net again just one minute after the Italian side. Five goals were not enough for the Dutch side, as the team ran circles around a tired Napoli defence to allow Couhaib Driouech to score in the 89^th minute. Following the goal, the PSV players ran to celebrate with fans in the stands, while Napoli players were left dejected on the pitch. The match finished 6-2.

 Speaking after the match, Napoli captain, Giovanni di Lorenzo said the players were “incredibly disappointed […] upset and […] disheartened”, later labelling the defeat as “a night where everything went wrong.”

 Napoli manager, Antonio Conte echoed the same sentiment, saying “we’re really disappointed”, promising that the team would “take lessons” from the match. He added that the Napoli team “have a lot of work to do in order to raise the standards of the entire squad.”  

 Napoli now sit in 22^nd place in the 36-team league phase of the Champions League.

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