Romelu Lukaku's Goal In Injury Time Wins Napoli Over 10 Parma Players

Striker Romelu Lukaku immediately scored a goal when he made his Napoli debut against Parma. (X/@SerieA)

JAKARTA - Napoli dramatically won 2-1 over Parma in the Italian Serie A match at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, Sunday, September 1, 2024 in the morning WIB. Striker Romelu Lukaku successfully scored in his debut.

The game was full of Napoli dramas when they hosted Parma. In a duel at home, Napoli had to work hard and even almost lost.

How could I not, Napoli fell behind after striker Ange-Yoan Bonny scored from the penalty spot. Winning 1-0 makes it believed that Parma will make another surprise like when they beat AC Milan 2-1 last week. Moreover, I Partenopei had difficulty facing the promotion team.

Napoli are still struggling when Parma has to play with 10 men following the expulsion of Zion Suzuki goalkeeper who received a second yellow card for a foul on David Neres.

Since coach Fabio Pecchia has taken advantage of Parma's substitution quota, he cannot include a substitute goalkeeper. In the aftermath, defender Enrico Del Prato had to stand under the bar replacing Suzuki from the 75th minute.

De Prato performed quite well because he could stem Napoli's attack. Luckily, Lukaku immediately showed his sharpness when making his debut. The player who was brought in from Chelsea completed a through ball from Leonardo Spinazzolla when he entered injury time.

Goals that saved Napoli from defeat because the score changed 1-1. The success of breaking into the Parma goal made Antonio Conte's troops more aggressive in suppressing the opponent. They try to take advantage of the remaining time.

As a result, midfielder Zambo Anguissa succeeded in making the host supporters cheer. In the 90+6 minute, his header, which greeted Neres' assist, broke into Parma's goal and changed the score to 2-1.

Lukaku showed his satisfaction because he scored in the first match with Napoli. In that match, Lukaku was just fielded by Conte in the 62nd minute. He replaced Giacomo Raspadori to sharpen his front line. Conte's hopes were answered by Lukaku through his goal.

"It's an honor to play at this club. The fans and the players here gave me a warm welcome," Lukaku was quoted as saying by Football Italia.

"We really worked hard and our hard training paid off. This seems to be my habit of scoring goals in every debut. But the important thing is we won," said the Belgian national team striker who last season borrowed by AS Roma.

Meanwhile, Conte said that when Lukaku equalized the score, he instructed the players to keep attacking. Because they have not won the match.

"When Lukaku scored, I immediately asked the players to return to the middle and attack quickly. The reason is we can only equalize the score. So, we have to keep attacking," Conte said.

"We were finally able to score a second goal. A full-hearted performance of the players made us beat Parma who is a very good team," he said.

Victory over Parma made Napoli move up to fourth with six points. Napoli are still one point adrift of Inter Milan and Torino who are at the top of the standings.

Meanwhile, Parma failed to improve the rankings. They occupy the ninth position with four points.