Soccer Football - Serie A - Genoa v Napoli - Stadio Comunale Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy - December 21, 2024 Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in action with Genoa's Brooke Norton-Cuffy REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
GENOA, Italy (Reuters) -Napoli returned to the Serie A summit with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Genoa on Saturday after first-half goals by Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa and Amir Rrahmani plus crucial saves from Alex Meret.
Anguissa and Rrahmani netted powerful headers and Meret's heroics helped end Genoa's six-game unbeaten run.
Napoli lead the standings on 38 points from 17 games, one point ahead of Atalanta who host Empoli on Sunday. Genoa are 14th with 16 points, two points above the relegation zone.
Napoli dominated the first half with Romelu Lukaku striking the woodwork with a header in the opening minutes.
Anguissa put Napoli ahead after 15 minutes, rising highest to send his header into the net helped by a deflection.
Eight minutes later, Rrahmani doubled the lead with a looping header from a set piece that found the top corner.
Napoli thought they had a third when Scott McTominay blasted the ball into the roof of the net from close range but it was ruled out after an offside in the build-up.
MERET SHINES
After the break, Genoa ramped up the pressure, with Andrea Pinamonti unleashing a shot from the edge of the box that forced Meret into a full-length fingertip save.
Pinamonti did pull one back for Genoa six minutes after the break, calmly slotting a low shot into the bottom corner after receiving Vitinha's pass from the byline.
Genoa dominated much of the second half, with Meret forced into a quick reaction save following a dangerous header from Milan Badelj not long after the hour mark.
In the dying moments of the match, Meret was called into action again, making a crucial fingertip save to deny substitute Caleb Ekuban as he attempted to tap in a cross.
"It was a game with two faces," said Meret. "In the first half Genoa waited for us, we controlled the game creating several chances and we were good at capitalising with two goals," he told DAZN.
"In the second half, however, they came back much more aggressively, pressing us all over the pitch and putting us in difficulty."
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis and Ken Ferris)
