Napoli might have a new hero in Romelu Lukaku.
The former Chelsea striker set up two goals as well as scoring in Napoli's 4-0 win over Cagliari on Sunday, marking their third straight victory in the Italian league.
Under new coach Antonio Conte, Napoli has started to resemble the dominant team that clinched the league title in 2023, moving away from the struggles of the previous season.
Victor Osimhen, a standout player from the 2023 championship team, has been replaced by Lukaku, reuniting the Belgian forward with Conte after their successful Serie A campaign with Inter in 2021.
\"I strongly wanted Romelu, as I always have throughout my career, because we're talking about an atypical player,\" Conte said. \"He's not yet at his top level but he's a player who will become fundamental for us.\"
After losing his first league game in charge, Conte has led Napoli to three consecutive wins, netting nine goals while conceding just one.
Lukaku, who scored on his debut in the previous match, made his first start for Napoli on Sunday. He was a threat from the outset, setting up the opener in the 18th minute by rolling Matteo Politano's cutback across the area to Giovanni Di Lorenzo, whose effort was deflected by Cagliari defender Yerry Mina.
Despite the game being suspended for around eight minutes due to crowd trouble, the action remained free-flowing and entertaining in Sardinia.
Napoli's Alex Meret was pivotal in maintaining their lead, making several impressive saves to deny Cagliari's Roberto Piccoli and Sebastiano Luperto, and even finger-tipping a remarkable long-range strike from Razvan Marin off the crossbar.
In the 66th minute, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia doubled Napoli's lead by racing onto a precise through-ball from Lukaku and firing into the bottom left corner.
Four minutes later, Kvaratskhelia scored again after Cagliari goalkeeper Simone Scuffet mishandled a pass, allowing Kvaratskhelia to pass to Lukaku, who finished effortlessly into the far bottom corner.
Alessandro Buongiorno sealed the victory with a goal in stoppage time, his first since joining Napoli from Torino in the off-season.
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Napoli might have found a new hero in Lukaku in 4-0 win at Cagliari
cgtn.com
