In the 26th minute, Belotti forced a kick from the right side of the penalty area surrounded by three people, and was blocked by the opposing defender without suspense. Benasi's breakthrough in the middle was then intercepted by Jorginho, leaving Immobile, who had managed to run an open space at the far end, much to the displeasure of the latter, who seemed to be complaining about his team-mate's failure to get the ball in time. These behaviors were all signs of over-impatience, which made Li Mudi, who had been hesitating on the sidelines to make changes to the lineup on the field, frowned, and he came to the outside of the touchline to remind the players to stay calm through gestures and shouts of victory, and there was still time.

Receiving a wave of roar from the head coach like a hair dryer, the players of the home team finally came to their senses, no longer rushing to increase the statistics of shots, but constantly mobilizing the opponent's defensive formation through more patient transmission, looking for opportunities for fatal blows. But just as everything was trending in a smooth direction, Torino was hit hard again.

In the 30th minute, Silvestri's cross from the side was sent to the middle of the penalty area, Belotti and the visiting team's central defender Albiol could not control the first drop in the scramble, and the ball bounced to the top of the penalty area without knowing whose head it hit. Because Mobile pounced on at least three players to the second landing point together, he stretched out his right foot and kicked a violent volley, but because it was a hasty move, the angle was not slightly controlled, and the ball happened to be smothered on the thigh of the red babe who had just stood up from the ground, and was blocked by his own family.

Just as the home team's attacking players were there to lament their bad luck, Napoli, who had the ball, played a quick counter-attack on the spot. Alain played the ball from less than five metres after passing through the halfway circle and picked up the ball behind the Torino defender's line, Mertens took advantage of his agility and agility to successfully counter offside and slotted the ball into the box with a light stop. However, with a bit of a left-hand touch on the ball and some time spent waiting for the long pass to go down, leaving Diego Llorente a chance to chase back, the Belgian striker didn't have much of a direct angle to get his feet on the back of the net after taking a step forward.

However, he still used his individual ability to create a good chance, only to see Mertens make a feint to continue to break through the baseline, shake off the center of gravity of the home team's defenders, and cleverly slam the ball back with his right heel, and he made a 180-degree turn to complete a pass similar to Cruyff's turn. After shaking off the passing space, the Belgian striker, who finished third in Serie A's scorer list last season, showed the world his superb passing skills, and he used his right foot arch to push the ball inverted into the middle, just past the two home defenders, so that the outflanked Hamsik could get straight to the goal without making any adjustments.

The Napoli captain's right-footed effort was so precise and powerful that Casillas couldn't even make a save before the ball slammed into the top corner of his left. 0-2, the Red Bulls, who had already taken some initiative on the field, are now two goals behind, and a deep sense of frustration appears in everyone's hearts.

Huge boos rang out throughout the Stadio Olimpico as the visitors celebrated wildly, and the home fans were clearly unhappy with the rampant bullying that had come to their homes, which also exacerbated the standoff between supporters on both sides.

However, there was some misunderstanding, and all the Napoli players, including goalkeeper Reina, gathered around Hamsik, and the reason for celebrating the goal was actually very simple, because their captain became the team's all-time leading goalscorer with this goal. With 115 goals, he is tied with Maradona for the most goals scored by Napoli FC in its 91-year history, and this honor naturally needs to be congratulated. Fortunately, they also knew that this was an away game, so they just got together and gave the captain a hug in turn, and then returned to their own half, waiting for the opponent to kick off again.

In the opening half an hour, he fell behind by two goals, and the situation can be said to be very bad, and Li Mudi's face on the sidelines is naturally not good. Although he thought he had prepared well before the game, he still couldn't prevent his team from falling into such an extremely unfavorable situation, and he was a little overwhelmed for a while. Fortunately, this panic did not last long, and after almost a few tens of seconds, the Torino coach came to his senses and quickly made new arrangements for the players on the field.

He told his players at the back, especially the two full-backs, not to provide assists, and Silvestri, who played as a cameo on the right wing, also stayed at the back to help defend, as Mobile dropped back more to form a response to Benasi. In this way, although the basic starting point of the home team's attack tends to be more marginal and single, at least the defensive depth of the central and back field is guaranteed, and what the Torino team has to do now is not to pull one back as soon as possible, but to ensure that they do not concede any more goals and retain hope of a comeback for the second half.

After this adjustment, Napoli's attack really began to gradually lose its previous power, and no matter how the three midfielders led by Hamsik were deployed, they could no longer pose the slightest threat to the goal guarded by Cassie. However, the home team's offense has become even more disorganized, basically a simple pass between two or three people, and it is difficult to cause problems for the opponent's defense. There were few highlights on the pitch, leaving the crowd very bored, and after Benassi and Albiol each received a yellow card for a foul on either side, the game went into halftime in a lackluster fashion.

Maurizio Sarri, who is 2-0 up, will not be unhappy with such an ugly game, and his side have overtaken Inter Milan in the immediate ranking of the table and regained the top spot in the league. Napoli also have a domestic cup clash with Udinese in the middle of next week, and if they can beat Torino with minimal effort without bloodshed, they will not be too much in terms of fitness and lay a good foundation for the closing stages of the year.

And Li Mudi's mood at the moment is relatively bad, with the good momentum of the previous six rounds of undefeated, the Red Bulls closely followed the pace of the leading group and did not fall behind in advance, and the loss of Inter Milan in this round almost gave them hope to further narrow the gap with the former. However, a home defeat to the White Dolphins today would see Torino six points off and given the tougher schedule in the second half of the league and the supercharged form Napoli have shown so far this season, the difference between the two teams is likely to be 15 points or more. According to the situation in previous years, the Red Bulls are the best and fourth, and the goal of hitting the Champions League is difficult to achieve.

So this game is not just a simple three-point game, it will have a big impact on the club's results throughout the season.

What's more, when the Torino team has played in the 17th round of Serie A this season and faced other strong teams, except for last weekend's away victory over Lazio due to the referee's decision, there is no win, which is also very bad for the players' psychology. Although he doesn't have too many ideas about this year's league championship, Li Mudi, who wants to attack the Serie A championship in the next two seasons, still finds that his group of young people obviously lack the domineering and self-confidence to defeat all strong opponents, how can a team with this temperament dominate one of the best leagues in the world? Therefore, in every strong conversation, he hopes to use every opportunity to build the confidence of Belotti and others, and beating a top domestic team like Napoli is naturally the best way.

So in the dressing room, the Torino boss wasted not a single minute and showed that he took the time to explain some of the mistakes made by his side when the visitors scored two goals, and reminded everyone not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Then he analyzed the characteristics of Sarri's tactical arrangement today, explained the advantages and disadvantages of the opponent's style of play to everyone thoroughly, and then gave his own response.

Before all the players from both sides could return to the pitch, the fourth official held up a digital sign on the sidelines to signal the home side to make a substitution, with Lucas Boyer coming on for Flanagan and the Torino team reverting to a 3-5-2 formation, with the Argentine taking on the role of left wing-back.

After kick-off, the home side took advantage of the situation to complete a multi-foot pass, but Boyer's cross in front of the left line was not intercepted by Hisay, and even a corner could not be collected, and the ball was touched off the touchline by the latter. However, Torino's attacking form did improve a lot compared to the first half, and with the help of Las Diarra from time to time, Benassi began to show the strength of today's Italian Mesozoic midfield playmaker, mobilizing the opposition defence through tireless running and patient passing, creating space for his teammates to cut forward, making people look a little bit of Pirlo and Xavi.

Within 10 minutes of the rematch, the home side had two shots on goal and two dangerous passes, leaving Napoli in a very tense state in front of goal. Seeing that the situation was not good, Maurizio Sarri also made timely adjustments, he instructed the visiting players to retreat about five meters or so, and asked the two wingers to also actively participate in the midfield scramble, leaving Mertens alone in front of him to prepare for a counterattack, and the situation of holding the two-goal lead was very obvious.

In the face of the opponent's recovery, Li Mudi immediately responded, he asked Diarra, who is better at marking people, to follow the Belgian goalscorer who was always roaming in front of his own backline, and then let Vukocevic, who had plummeted in defensive pressure, to step forward more to meet Benasi. At the same time, the two wing-backs will also have to increase their running, and once they find an opening, they will press up resolutely and attack the visitors' two wings. Up front, Immobile, who has a better ability to pass the ball, also doesn't want to stand in position, but also pulls back to help his teammates pull out space and act as an important contact point at the edge of the penalty area.

By the time of this game, Napoli had conceded only 10 goals in the 16 Serie A rounds they had completed, the fewest of all 20 teams, which was somewhat surprising given that the team was still known for its attacking power. In fact, last season, the White Dolphins scored a league-high 92 goals while also conceding 39 goals to become the third-best team defensively, and Sarri has made a huge improvement on both ends of the pitch for the team from southern Italy's largest city.

However, it would not be an exaggeration to say that their defence is as desperate as Juventus has been. The reason why Napoli concede fewer goals is due to his super pressing ability at the offensive end. Statistically, in the last year and a half, the White Dolphins have had the second-fewest shots per game in Serie A, just more than the Old Lady. In addition, they lead the league with 60% possession per game, which has greatly helped to reduce the number of goals conceded and indirectly obscures the team's true defensive strength.

Napoli scored three goals in a row at home to Torino in the first half last season, and this season they have a black history of two goals scored by promoted Maspar and four goals scored by Manchester United at home in the Champions League, so their defense is still a certain distance from Europe's top teams, and at best it can only be regarded as a weakened version of Real Madrid.

In the face of the aggressive Red Bull, the White Dolphins who were fighting away naturally did not dare to be careless, and after sacrificing their own offense, they were able to withstand wave after wave of offensive attacks of the home team. However, in the extremely passive situation, they still made fatal mistakes in the end. In the 63rd minute, Benassi burst into the top of the penalty area with the ball and sent a through pass, the ball was intercepted by Albiol in front of Immobile, who had already run out of position, but it was not cleared cleanly. In the away box, three defenders made mistakes in quick succession under pressure from the home team, and finally blocked the ball to Belotti who followed up. The latter took a lateral step to open up space after winning the ball near the penalty spot, and directly fired a low shot into the opposite corner, which was fast and awkwardly angled, making Reina, who quickly made a fall to the ground, unable to do anything. 1-2, after unremitting efforts, the Torino team finally knocked on the opponent's city and narrowed the gap in the score.

The Red Bulls, who pulled back a city, continued to ignore the crowd and launched a high-intensity press after the opponent kicked off, although they paid the price of two yellow cards, they still firmly grasped the initiative on the field, and let all the spectators see the hope of scoring another goal.

However, the veteran Maurizio Sarri reacted in time, replacing Zielinski with Insigne in the 70th minute, while Callejon was replaced by Guinean defender Amadou Diawara to change the formation to 4-4-2. In this way, there are two extremely fast counterattack points in the front court, which directly makes the backcourt players of the home team dare not easily press. Faced with the situation of the wingbacks being suppressed, Li Mudi was also not to be outdone, pushing Boyer up the front line, changing the formation to 4-3-3, hoping to continue to maintain a good momentum in the frontcourt.

Unfortunately, under the opponent's strict defense, the Torino team still failed to score the second goal of the game, and was almost attacked by Insigne in the 87th minute. Thankfully, Casey's attack interfered with the current Italy international, causing him to go wide when he chose to shake off the goalkeeper and hit the side-netting, but it was enough to send the home team into a cold sweat.

In the end, Torino, who did not lag behind in terms of possession and shots on goal, still failed to snatch a point from their opponents. The score of 1-2 was maintained until the final whistle blew, and Li Mudi still continued the embarrassing situation against Maurizio Sarri.