Gattuso Suffers Defeat on Napoli Debut as Late Gervinho Goal Lifts Parma
Gennaro Gattuso endured a disappointing start to life as Napoli coach as his side suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Parma following a stoppage-time winner from Gervinho.
Gattuso replaced Carlo Ancelotti after Napoli dismissed the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager despite a 4-0 Champions League victory over Genk that secured qualification for the knockout stage.
However, the former AC Milan coach was unable to immediately revive Napoli’s Serie A form, with the defeat extending their winless league run to eight matches and leaving them eighth in the table.
Parma took the lead after just four minutes when Dejan Kulusevski capitalised on an error by Kalidou Koulibaly before finishing past the goalkeeper.
Koulibaly was then forced off with a leg injury shortly afterwards, while Parma striker Andreas Cornelius also left the pitch injured during the opening stages.
Napoli created several chances but struggled to make them count. Piotr Zielinski fired over, while captain Lorenzo Insigne failed to convert two opportunities created by Arkadiusz Milik.
Gattuso introduced Dries Mertens for Allan after the hour mark, and the change quickly produced a response.
Mertens supplied the cross for Milik to head home the equaliser in the 64th minute. It was the Polish striker’s fourth goal in two matches following his Champions League hat-trick against Genk.
Napoli pushed for a winner, but Parma continued to threaten on the counter-attack.
Their persistence was rewarded in the third minute of added time when Gervinho finished off a swift break involving Kulusevski to secure all three points for the visitors.
The result moved Parma up to seventh place, while Napoli remained eight points outside the Champions League positions. Their last Serie A victory had come against Verona on October 19.
Elsewhere, Brescia boosted their survival hopes with a 3-0 victory over Lecce, with Jhon Chancellor, Ernesto Torregrossa and Nikolas Spalek getting on the scoresheet.
