As his impressive time in Italy continued, former Manchester United star Scott McTominay scored a superb goal for Napoli. Romelu Lukaku released McTominay just inside Empoli's half in the 18th minute, and the Scotland international drove 30 yards with the ball before firing a lightning strike into the corner to give Napoli the lead. The midfielder bagged his second of the game with a looping header just after the hour mark.
After this game, McTominay's Napoli side, who are second behind Inter Milan in the table, travel to Monza on Saturday in Serie A action.
At the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, the Napoli duo were unstoppable against Empoli, who are second from bottom and two points out of the safety zone. The home side created chance after chance and wreaked havoc on the Empoli defence.
Romelu is an outstanding teammate. McTominay stated to DAZN, "He demands a lot from all of the team and me to score more goals and create more opportunities for him to score as well." He clearly excels as a player. He’s had a great career, and we're so happy to have him."
After 18 minutes, Lukaku broke free in the middle of the field and passed the ball to McTominay, who rushed forward. McTominay's low long-range shot went over Empoli goalkeeper Devis Vasquez's outstretched hand and into the bottom corner of the net. Napoli's comfortable evening took a hit in front of a noisy home crowd minutes later when Napoli defender Juan Jesus had to go off because of what looked like a hamstring injury.
Lukaku had one more chance just before being substituted but could not quite control David Neres's cross and sent it wide.
In the dying minutes, McTominay had an opportunity to put the ball in the net again from close range but Vazquez produced a stunning save and the flag was in any case up for offside.
It was McTominay who lit up the match with his opening goal. He received a pass from Lukaku just inside the Empoli half, strode forward, and then struck a powerful shot that gave Devis Stiven Vasquez Llach, the Empoli goalkeeper, no chance. Lukaku doubled the hosts’ advantage on 56 minutes when he reacted quickest to stab the ball home and the Belgian turned provider again on 61 minutes when McTominay headed home his cross.
On Sunday, leaders Inter had put further pressure on Napoli by defeating Udinese 3-1 at the San Siro, while third-placed Atalanta rediscovered the winning feeling by defeating Bologna 2-0 in Bergamo. The visitors were without Scottish midfielder Lewis Ferguson, who is currently sidelined by a thigh strain.
Como defeated Torino 1-0 under Che Adams' leadership. Il Toro thought they had levelled in stoppage time, only for Josip Ilicic’s goal to be ruled out for offside. Adams played the whole match for the Turin side.
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