Napoli Vs. Villarreal, 2011 UEFA Champions League: Hosts Cruise to 2-0 Win

It looked pretty dicey for Napoli in the early stages of their UEFA Champions League match against La Liga club Villarreal, but two quick goals brought an end to any hope the Yellow Submarine had of emerging from the Sao Paolo with a point and the game played out in pretty straightforward fashion from then on. Napoli's game is based around the counterattack, so they invited their visitors onto them and then hit them hard on the break, especially down the flanks. It was a strategy that produced some nervy moments, but ultimately worked to perfection.

The first goal was rather odd - a botched offside trap left Marek Hamsik in acres of space eight yards out and waiting for a cross to come in, Ezequiel Lavezzi the provider. When it did he rather nonchalantly volleyed it off Diego Lopez's left-hand post. Within seconds, Lavezzi had created another goal, bursting into the area only to be felled by Gonzalo, Edinson Cavani lashing in the resultant penalty. At two goals up with 17 minutes on the clock, Napoli didn't appear to feel the need to add any more attacking to their day, and were happy to see the game out. The only blemish on their 2-0 win was Cavani's second-half departure with some sort of ankle problem, and although it doesn't look too serious, Neapolitans tend to treat any injury to their star striker as an act of war, so if Vila-Real goes up in flames, I think we'll all know who to blame.