MILAN: Tijjani Noslin netted a hat-trick as Lazio beat a depleted Napoli side 3-1 in the Coppa Italia round of 16 at the Stadio Olimpico on Thursday.

The 25-year-old Dutch forward completed his first career treble in the space of 18 minutes to send Napoli out in the round of 16 for the fourth season in a row.

Lazio will face either Inter Milan or Udinese in the quarter-finals. League champions Inter host Udinese at the San Siro in two weeks’ time.

The hosts dominated most of the match and got the chance to go ahead after 20 minutes when Pedro was brought down by Napoli keeper Elia Caprile, but Mattia Zaccagni’s effort was saved.

Noslin opened the scoring after 32 minutes following heavy Lazio pressure, heading home at the near post from short range following a corner.

Giovanni Simeone equalised for Napoli four minutes later before Pedro and Zaccagni combined beautifully to set up Noslin who ended a sweeping move with a brilliant dummy and finish to put the hosts back into the lead four minutes before half-time.

Noslin completed his hat-trick five minutes after the break when he judged a high cross into the box from Zaccagni perfectly and headed it into the far corner.

Thursday’s cup tie between largely second-string line-ups was a warm-up for Sunday night’s Serie A clash between the two team in Naples, when Napoli will try to hold on to their slender league lead.

Napoli are one point ahead of Atalanta and four in front of Inter, Fiorentina and Lazio heading into the weekend’s league fixtures.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2024