Torino vs Napoli Preview: Classic Encounter, Key Battles, Team News & More

Napoli travel to Torino on Sunday in their return to Serie A action after their midweek Champions League game against Red Star Belgrade. 

Napoli left Serbia with just a point after drawing 0-0 with Red Star Belgrade in a game their manager Carlo Ancelotti described his team as being "too slow", as quoted by Football Italia.  

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Ancelotti went on to explain: “We were a little bit slow in our passing, a little slow getting on the end of passes and made a few too many mistakes".  

Torino will be hoping to add to Napoli's frustrations on Sunday, and here is everything you need to know ahead of the Serie A match. 

Classic Encounter

Torino 3-5 Napoli (Serie A 2013)

Napoli and Torino drew 1-1 earlier in the Serie A 2012/13 season before meeting again in March for a game that proved infinitely more entertaining than their earlier encounter. 

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Edinson Cavani failed to make the starting line up as he recovered from international duty with Uruguay, which begged the question of where Napoli's goals were going to come from. Blerim Dzemaili was the unlikely answer, as he opened the scoring ten minutes in.

Torino's Paulo Barreto, however, equalised on the 30th minute mark, capitalising on Napoli's chaotic defending following a corner. Marek Hamsik then had an opportunity to regain Napoli's lead before half-time through a penalty, but his sport-kick was saved by Jean-Francois Gillet. 

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Dzemaili restored Napoli's lead after half time, before Cavani gave away a penalty for handball in the 74th minute which Jonathas scored to equalise for Torino. Just four minutes later, Riccardo Meggiorini dispossessed Miguel Britos on the edge of Napoli's box, taking the ball in his stride and rounding Antonio Rosati in goal before tucking home to make it 3-2 to Torino. 

Torino wished the match ended after their third goal, because two minutes after taking the lead Dzemaili completed his hat-trick with an outside-of-the-boot shot that swerved past the outstretched glove of Gillet. 

With the game balanced at 3-3, El Matador Cavani grabbed the match by its horns, first scoring a free-kick and then heading home to make it 5-3 to Napoli on the night. 

Key Battle

Ola Aina vs. Lorenzo Insigne

Ola Aina and Lorenzo Insigne are likely to battle it out on the wing in Sunday's match. Torino use wing-backs in their 3-5-2 formation, which means Aina - Torino's right wing-back - will have to defend against Napoli's left-winger Insigne. 

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Insigne is Napoli's joint top scorer (with Piotr Zielinski) this season with two goals in five games, and he almost added a third when his curling shot hit the crossbar against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.  

If Aina gets caught up the field against Napoli doing his attacking duties for Torino, Insigne will have space on the wing to attack Torino's centre-backs. Aina will need to be wary of the threat imposed by Insigne. 

Team News

For Torino, Lorenzo De Silvestri, Roberto Soriano, and Iago Falque are all set to miss Sunday's match against Napoli. The injury to De Silvestri means Ola Aina will start in his place at right wing-back, whereas Simone Zaza should replace the injured Iago Falque. 

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Napoli are still going to be without Vlad Chiriches who suffered damage to his anterior cruciate ligament playing for Montenegro during the recent international break. According to Calciomercato, Chiriches' injury may require surgery, so he will be sidelined for some time still. 

Potential Torino Lineup: Sirigu; Moretti, N'Koulou, Izzo; Berenguer, Meite, Rincon, Baselli, Aina; Belotti, Zaza. 

Potential Napoli Lineup: Ospina; Rui, Koulibaly, Albiol, Hysaj; Zielinski, Hamsik, Allan; Insigne, Merterns, Callejon. 

Prediction

Napoli should have too much quality for Torino, who are without three keys players in Falque, De Silvestri, and Soriano. 

Napoli were also very unlucky to come away with nothing in their last game against Red Star Belgrade after scoring from none of their 20 shots on goal, eight of which were on target. Napoli will be looking to bounce back to winning ways against Torino, and you would expect them to be able to get the job done. 

Predicted Score: Torino 1-3 Napoli