Six of the best as Napoli hand Ajax Amsterdam a record defeat

AMSTERDAM: Giacomo Raspadori netted twice as Napoli came from behind to deliver a masterclass and score a runaway 6-1 win at 10-man Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League on Tuesday (Oct 4).

Captain Giovanni di Lorenzo, Piotr Zielinski, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and substitute Giovanni Simeone added the other goals for the Italian league leaders, after Mohammed Kudus had given the hosts the lead inside the opening 10 minutes.

Napoli, who might have scored more such was their dominance, have a 100 per cent record at the halfway point in Group A, leaving Ajax with three points from their opening three games and in danger of missing out on next year’s knockout stages after their biggest defeat in European football.

Ajax coach Alfred Schreuder had warned on the eve of the game about the attacking threat that Napoli posed but, even then, would not have expected his team to be so thoroughly outsmarted.

Ajax, who had lost at Liverpool in their previous group game, went ahead in the ninth minute when Kenneth Taylor’s goal-bound shot hit team mate Kudus on the shin and deflected into the corner of the net.

It proved the only highlight for the packed house at the Amsterdam Arena as Napoli did not take long to work their way into the game, pressing Ajax into mistakes, cutting them apart with swift attacking moves and finishing with aplomb.

Raspadori equalised in the 18th minute with a diving header at the back post at the end of Mathias Olivera’s cross from the right.

A simple corner routine saw Georgian Kvaratskhelia, who produced another performance to emphasise his growing reputation in European football, deliver a cross for Di Lorenzo to power home a header for a second goal.

Napoli extended their lead on the stroke of half-time with