Football Previews
Hat-trick hero Gonzalo Higuain hopes to continue his goalscoring exploits when Napoli head to Hellas Verona on Sunday. The Argentinian striker smashed three past Dinamo Moscow in the Europa League this week to give the Azzurri a 3-1 lead heading into the second leg in Russia. Higuain, the former Real Madrid player, is now on 22 goals in all competitions this term – 13 of those have been scored in Serie A – and he plans to improve his haul of four in two games during the trip to Verona. “I’m happy with the hat-trick but most of all with the win that we wanted so badly,” he told sscnapoli.it. “This is a strong team that wants to win an important trophy, we are all leaders here. “Now we must think about Verona and getting back on the road in the league. After that we can think about the Europa League again. “I am doing well and the team is in good shape – we can do a lot more…” Defender Henrique is suspended following his dismissal against Inter Milan while Napoli boss Rafael Benitez is without injured players Michu, Lorenzo Insigne, Walter Gargano, Manolo Gabbiadini and Christian Maggio. Verona host the league’s fourth-placed team unable to call on near-namesakes Rafael Marques and Rafael Marquez, with Mattia Valoti missing through injury and Artur Ionita serving a one-match ban. The Gialloblu, who held AC Milan to a 2-2 draw at San Siro last time out, could climb as high as 12th with victory but the relegation zone remains only nine points away with 12 games of the campaign still to play. Bosko Jankovic is confident Verona can pull clear of any lingering danger. The Serbian midfielder told Corriere dello Sport: “To get out of any crisis you need to cause some sort of shock. “Now it’s time to go up against Napoli and we have a great desire to get a result. “I can’t make any promises, but we will certainly go out and give our all on the pitch.”
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Team
MP
W
D
L
F
A
G
P
1
Atalanta
13
9
1
3
34
16
+18
28
2
Inter Milan
13
8
4
1
31
14
+17
28
3
SSC Napoli
12
8
2
2
19
9
+10
26
4
Fiorentina
12
7
4
1
25
10
+15
25
5
Lazio
12
8
1
3
25
14
+11
25
6
Juventus
13
6
7
0
21
7
+14
25
7
AC Milan
12
5
4
3
20
14
+6
19
8
Bologna
11
4
6
1
15
13
+2
18
9
Udinese
12
5
1
6
15
18
-3
16
10
Empoli
12
3
6
3
9
10
-1
15
11
Torino
12
4
2
6
15
18
-3
14
12
Roma
12
3
4
5
14
17
-3
13
13
Parma
13
2
6
5
17
21
-4
12
14
Verona
13
4
0
9
17
32
-15
12
15
Como
12
2
4
6
13
23
-10
10
16
Cagliari
12
2
4
6
12
22
-10
10
17
Genoa
12
2
4
6
9
22
-13
10
18
Lecce
12
2
3
7
5
21
-16
9
19
Monza
12
1
5
6
10
15
-5
8
20
Venezia
12
2
2
8
11
21
-10
8
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