Cagliari 0-4 Napoli: Lukaku stars to send visitors to Serie A summit

Romelu Lukaku helped himself to a goal and two assists to send Napoli top of the Serie A table with a comfortable 4-0 away triumph against Cagliari on Sunday.

Lukaku teed up Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia before finding the back of the net, with Alessandro Buongiorno confirming the win in injury time.

Antonio Conte’s side took the lead in the 18th minute when Di Lorenzo saw his effort deflect off Yerry Mina and beyond the clutches of Simone Scuffet.

The visitors had to wait until the second half to double their advantage, with Lukaku sending Kvaratskhelia on his way before finishing at the near post.

Kvaratskhelia then turned provider for Lukaku to sweep home Napoli’s third after Scuffet’s misplaced pass out from the back was ruthlessly punished.

Further gloss was added to the scoreline in second-half stoppage time when Buongiorno headed home David Neres’ inviting corner-kick.

3 – David #Neres is the 1st player to provide an assist in each of his first 3 matches (v Bologna, Parma and Cagliari) in #SerieA since this kind of data has been available (since 2004-05). Magnanimous.#CagliariNapoli pic.twitter.com/oXbwL3b0zr

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) September 15, 2024

Data Debrief: Lukaku repaying Conte faith

Lukaku has scored and provided more than one assist in a single match only three times in his career in the top five European Leagues, now doing so twice under Conte.

The Belgian ended the encounter with an expected goals (xG) tally of 0.77, the highest of anyone in the Napoli team, while also taking his tally to two goals in two games for his new club.

Brazilian Neres, meanwhile, became the first player to provide an assist in each of his first three matches in Serie A, with Napoli’s new recruits impressing.