Romelu Lukaku struck with the final touch of the match to seal a dramatic 2-1 victory for Napoli against Hellas Verona, in a chaotic encounter that also saw Rasmus Hojlund score at both ends.
The Partenopei arrived under pressure after a 2-2 draw with AS Roma and a contentious loss to Atalanta, with several key players unavailable.
Antonio Conte was without Scott McTominay, Frank Anguissa, Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, David Neres and Kevin De Bruyne, forcing adjustments to his lineup, including a start for Alisson Santos in attack.
Despite their struggles this season, Napoli flew out of the blocks. They needed barely two minutes to open the scoring. Matteo Politano whipped in a cross from the right that was glanced on by Andrias Edmundsson, only for Hojlund to react quickest, guiding a looping header into the far top corner via the inside of the post.
Napoli pushed for a second, with Leonardo Spinazzola firing narrowly over and Lorenzo Montipò producing a fine save to keep out Eljif Elmas.
Hojlund nearly doubled his tally when he lifted the ball past the advancing goalkeeper, but Edmundsson recovered superbly to clear close to the line.
Verona gradually grew into the contest and levelled in controversial fashion. Napoli protested a foul in the build-up to a corner, but play continued.
From the set-piece, Hojlund inadvertently flicked the ball on, deflecting Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro’s effort beyond Alex Meret to bring the hosts back on level terms.
The home side almost turned the game around on the counter, only for Daniel Mosquera’s heavy touch to let him down at a crucial moment.
At the other end, Elmas again tested Montipò after neat interplay between substitutes Billy Gilmour and Lukaku.
As stoppage time ticked away, Verona thought they had snatched it when Kieron Bowie met a cross, but his volley drifted wide after Meret failed to deal cleanly with the delivery.
However, there was one final twist. Napoli worked a short corner routine, and Giovane’s cross evaded everyone in the box before dropping invitingly to Lukaku.
The Belgian forward made no mistake, sweeping home from close range with the last kick of the night, his first goal of the campaign following a lengthy layoff with a serious tendon injury, to hand Conte’s side a priceless three points.
