Team Napoli in action© AFP
Napoli were knocked out of the Italian Cup by Lazio on Thursday after Tijjani Noslin fired a hat-trick to hand the Serie A leaders a 3-1 last-16 defeat in Rome. Lazio will face either Inter Milan or Udinese in the quarter-finals thanks to Dutch attacker Noslin’s treble which took his season’s goal tally to five. League champions Inter host Udinese at the San Siro in two weeks’ time. Noslin nodded Lazio ahead in the 32nd minute and, following Giovanni Simeone’s rapid leveller, ended a sweeping move with a brilliant dummy and finish to put the hosts back into the lead four minutes before half-time.
And the 25-year-old made sure of Lazio’s passage to the last eight in four minutes after the break with another header from a pinpoint cross from Mattia Zaccagni, who also had a penalty saved midway through the first half.
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.
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