Rome, Aug 31: Antonio Conte jumped up and down and whirled his arms like a child as he ran around in delirium.
The fans inside the Stadio Armando Diego Maradona also erupted in joy.Three months after beating Cagliari to secure its fourth Serie A title, Napoli was again celebrating a victory over the Sardinian club.What made it so dramatic this time was that Frank Anguissa scored five minutes into stoppage time for a 1-0 win after Napoli had wasted chance after chance in its home opener.Moments before the goal there had been gasps of despair as Scott McTominay attempted an unsuccessful bicycle kick near the goal.Turned out, nothing so complicated was necessary as Anguissa was left unmarked in the center of the area to calmly redirect in a cross from Alessandro Buongiorno.“I would have been happy with a 0-0. There are matches where you get the ball and score easily. Today it seemed like there was a curse on the goal,” said Conte, who is in his second season coaching Napoli.
“But the team believed until the end and the final result was deserved.” Injured striker Romelu Lukaku was also overcome with emotion, posting a photo on Instagram of himself holding his head in apparent disbelief with a caption that read, “Pfffff wow wow wow.” tapping in a rebound. (AP)
