Venezia finally get off the mark: a 1-0 shock over Napoli ends a six-game run without a point

Six matchdays, six defeats, zero goals difference worth boasting about — Venezia arrived at the Penzo with nothing to show for the opening stretch of the season except five conceded for every one scored. Napoli, mid-table and unremarkable but never easy to beat, were the visitors nobody expected to end that run. They did anyway, and it was the home side who ended it.

Akor Adams turned in Simon Sohm's cross four minutes into the second half, and that single goal stood up against a Napoli side that had 70.7% of the ball and ten shots on target to Venezia's four. It is the kind of scoreline that reads like a mistake until you watch Venezia defend: eleven men behind the ball, zero corners conceded in 90 minutes, and a goalkeeper in Filip Stankovic who did the one thing his side needed from him.

A first win that was a long time coming

Before kick-off, Venezia had lost all six of their Serie A matches this season — away at Lecce, AC Milan, Frosinone, then at home to Fiorentina and Lazio, then away again at Atalanta on the last matchday. Zero points, five goals scored, sixteen conceded. Bottom of the table, and not competitively so: nobody else in Serie A had gone six games without at least a draw.

That run is now over, and so is the zero in the points column. Three points lift Venezia from last to 20th on three, still bottom but with the psychological weight of a first win removed. It changes nothing about the table's shape — they are still ten points off safety — but a side that had not scored more than two goals in a match all season, and had conceded multiple goals in five of its six games, now has proof it can keep a team with Napoli's individual quality off the scoresheet entirely.

Napoli stall again

For Napoli, this was the third defeat in seven Serie A matches, and it arrived in a pattern that has become familiar: a result that does not match the underlying numbers. The visitors had the better of almost every statistical category — more than double the possession, ten shots on target to four, 657 completed passes to Venezia's 232 — and still left Venice with nothing. They stay 8th on 10 points, level on points with Frosinone but ahead on goal difference, three points off the Champions League places held by fourth-placed Cagliari.

The visitors made five changes from the bench without ever finding the finish their territorial dominance demanded. Kevin De Bruyne and Rasmus Højlund were both introduced in the second half and neither could break the deadlock; Scott McTominay, starting further forward in a 3-4-2-1, had the kind of afternoon where every touch came in the wrong third of the pitch to hurt Venezia.

Match facts

• 49' — Akor Adams (Venezia), assisted by Simon Sohm

What's next

Venezia stay bottom of Serie A on three points from seven games, ten adrift of the relegation line, but travel into the next round with a result to point to for the first time all season. Napoli remain 8th on 10 points, three off the Champions League places, and will look to respond before the gap to the top four stretches any further.