Napoli beat spirited 10-man Cesena 3-1 yesterday to open the new Serie A season with an at times laboured victory.

The three points will have helped the southerners’ confidence ahead of their trip to England in midweek to face Manchester City in the Champions League but this was a far from convincing performance.

Ezequiel Lavezzi gave them an early lead before Roberto Guana equalised only for Hugo Campagnaro to snatch a winner before Marek Hamsik put the icing on the cake late on.

Cesena had centre-back Yohan Benalouane sent off early in the second period for two bookings, the second a careless handball.

But despite playing 38 minutes with a numerical advantage, Walter Mazzarri’s team struggled to ram home their dominance.

Having made a lot of signings in the summer there is a lot of hope surrounding Cesena this season and they started with fire in their bellies.

Marquee signing Adrian Mutu sent over an early corner that Benalouane headed just wide.

But a momentary lack of concentration saw them punished after just three minutes as Lavezzi was left alone behind the backline to collect a long throw from Campagnaro and volley past Nicola Ravaglia at his near post.

With Andrea Candreva pulling the strings, Cesena saw a lot of the ball and created a lot of threatening moments without actually testing Napoli keeper Morgan De Sanctis. The visitors almost had a second on 21 minutes when Andrea Dossena’s deep cross from the left found Christian Maggio at the back stick but his volley flashed past the far post.

Gianluca Comotto then headed wide from a corner for the hosts.

Cesena got the equaliser they deserved on 24 minutes as Brazilian Eder broke down the right and crossed for Guana to nip in front of his marker and prod home across De Sanctis.

Napoli almost went back in front on 36 minutes after a great one-two from Lavezzi and Mario Santana but the Argentine forward directed his shot wide of post.

Up the other end Candreva on the volley brought a smart parry from De Sanctis.

The game changed early in the second half when Benalouane picked up two yellow cards in quick succession leaving the hosts a man down. Mazzarri was quick to react, bringing on forwards Hamsik and Goran Pandev and the move reaped immediate dividends as Hamsik crossed for Campagnaro to slide the ball home at the back post.

Napoli stepped up the pressure and Ravaglia had to make a fine save to deny Edinson Cavani.

Pandev should have eased the visitors’ nerves five minutes from time but somehow hit the bar with an open goal to aim at after fine work from Hamsik.

But the Slovakian showed his Macedonian colleague how it was done a couple of minutes later, lashing home a left-footer from the edge of the box.

Results

Serie A

Played yesterday

Cesena 1
Guana 24;
Napoli 3
Lavezzi 3; Campagnaro 66; Hamsik 87;

Red card: Benalouane (C) 55.

Today – 15.00
Catania vs Siena
Chievo vs Novara
Fiorentina vs Bologna
Genoa vs Atalanta
Juventus vs Parma - 12.30
Lecce vs Udinese
Palermo vs Inter - 20.45
Roma vs Cagliari

Serie B
AlbinoLeffe 2 - Modena 1
Grosseto 2 - Verona 1
Gubbio 1 - Reggina 3
Juve Stabia 0 - Brescia 1
Nocerina 0 - Ascoli 1
Pescara 2 - Crotone 0
Sassuolo 2 - Cittadella 0
Varese 0 - Livorno 2

Played on Friday
Padova 1 - Bari 0

Playing tomorrow
Empoli vs Sampdoria - 20.45
Vicenza vs Torino - 20.45

Leading standings: Padova, Brescia 10; Sassuolo, Pescara 9; Grosseto 8; Torino, Reggina, AlbinoLeffe, Livorno 7; Verona 6.

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