Napoli 2-1 Hellas Verona: Late Khvicha Kvaratskhelia stunner inspires hosts to big win in Serie A

Napoli forged a late comeback, thanks to a stunner from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, to edge past relegation-threatened Hellas Verona with a 2-1 win at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium on Sunday.

After a low-quality first half, Verona threatened the Serie A champions on multiple occasions and eventually found the breakthrough via Diego Coppola on 72 minutes.

The game subsequently burst into life with the hosts finding their rhythm and levelling through Cyril Ngonge, who joined Napoli in January from Verona, where he had scored six goals so far this season.

Kvaratskhelia completed the comeback eight minutes later with a stunning effort from 25 yards, curling past Lorenzo Montipo to mark his return from suspension with a crucial winning goal.

The victory lifts Napoli into seventh, just a point off fourth-placed Atalanta. They are now eyeing that final Champions League spot, while they have an upcoming round-of-16 clash against Barcelona in this year's competition.

Verona, meanwhile, languish in 18th and face the very serious threat of relegation. The defeat extends their winless run to three matches and keeps them winless away from home since the opening day of the Serie A season.

Ahead of Sunday's clash with relegation-threatened Verona, Napoli boss Walter Mazzarri insisted his side are still capable of finishing in fourth-place - despite sitting ninth ahead of Sunday's action.

Despite a largely insipid performance against Verona - in which the visitors' opener proved the catalyst for an eventful final 15 minutes - the 2-1 victory leaves the Serie A champions in seventh, and breathing down the necks of fourth-placed Atalanta, who they trail by just one point.

However, they cannot always rely on moments of individual excellence from Kvaratskhelia. The Georgian winger bailed his side out with a sublime strike just three minutes from time, but if Napoli are to make a push for the premium European spots this season, they will need to find fluidity and incision which was so common in their game last season to break down teams and threaten throughout the 90 minutes.

Of course, Napoli could still make a push in the Champions League this season, with a round-of-16 match against Barcelona just over two weeks away. But recent performances have not gone far in persuading us that they can make a real push against Europe's elite.

It's a hard push to decide between Kvaratskhelia and Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo for this accolade, but the late goal seals it for the Napoli forward.

He was the hosts' main outlet throughout and, despite largely being restricted to long-range efforts, he still provided the all-important goal with a moment of pure brilliance, and also should have picked up an assist in a second-half chance which was spurned by Giovanni Simeone.

Kvaratskhelia returned from a one-match suspension and showed exactly how important he is to Mazzarri's side, injecting attacking impetus and was the key goal threat throughout.

Napoli: Gollini 5, Di Lorenzo 5, Rrahmani 5, Juan Jesus 6, Rui 4, Anguissa 5, Lobotka 6, Cajuste 4, Politano 5, Simeone 4, Kvaratskhelia 8. Subs: Mazzocchi 5, Lindstrom 7, Ngonge 6, Raspadori 5, Dendoncker 5.

Verona: Montipo 7, Cabal 6, Dawidowicz 5, Coppola 7, Tchatchoua 5, Serdar 5, Duda 5, Lazovic 6, Folorunsho 6, Suslov 5, Noslin 5. Subs: Swiderski 5, Vinagre 5, Silva 5, Magnani 5, Tavsan 5.

13' KVARATSKHELIA CLOSE AGAIN! From a corner, the ball fell nicely to Kvaratskhelia on the edge of the box. He struck his volley sweet and low, it looked destined to worm its way past Montipo. But the keeper did really well to stifle it. That would've been special.

72' GOAL! Napoli 1-0 Verona (Coppola): I warned that it could be coming, and it has. Napoli fall behind and it's a huge goal in the context of Verona's fight against relegation. Suslov's free-kick from near the halfway line is unconventionally shouldered past Gollini by Coppola as the Maradona Stadium falls into silence. It seemed to take a second for everyone involved to actually realise the ball had gone in. Napoli not at the races and they are punished.

77' A STUNNING DOUBLE SAVE: Montipo has been huge when called upon today and he's just made a hugely important double stop. Mazzocchi had his side-footed effort saved, and Lindstrom followed up with another effort, only to be kept out by the Verona keeper.

79' GOAL! Napoli 1-1 Verona (Ngonge): Against his former club, the ex-player curse indeed does come into effect! Lindstrom has been a positive outlet since coming on and orchestrated that move with a low ball into the area, which was met by Ngonge and deflected into the net. The game has burst into life late on, perhaps Napoli realising they have been nowhere near good enough for the first 75 minutes.

87' GOAL! Napoli 2-1 Verona (Kvaratskhelia): He's been trying it all afternoon and it finally came off. An absolute beauty from Kvaratskhelia as he pivots on the edge of the penalty area and curls an inch-perfect effort beyond Montipo. Moments of quality have been few and far between this afternoon, but the past 10 minutes have shown exactly kind of talent in this Napoli squad.

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