Luca Toni brace guides Hellas Verona to victory over Napoli

A brace from Luca Toni has fired Hellas Verona to a 2-0 victory over Napoli in an ill-tempered Serie A clash at the Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi.

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The home side took the game to Napoli in the opening minutes as Juanito Gomez raced clear of the defence, but Mariano Andujar came off his line to dispossess the forward and prevent him from firing his team ahead.

However, Verona took the lead in the seventh minute when Toni showed desire to beat two Napoli defenders to the ball before rounding Andujar and slotting home from a tight angle.

Napoli hit back with a decent chance as they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, although Faouzi Ghoulam's strike was well gathered by Francesco Benussi.

Just before the break, the home side went close again when Jacopo Sala raided down the left and fired the ball low across the face of goal, but it was just out of the reach of Bosko Jankovic.

In the second half, Verona had the chance to double their advantage when Jankovic raided down the left and fired a vicious ball across the face of goal, but Toni was unable to convert from close range.

The home side did double their lead through Toni, however, as the Italian striker found the back of the net with a low drive into the bottom corner after collecting Emil Hallfredsson's cross on a brisk counter-attack. Napoli came closing to getting a goal back when a poor clearance from a corner fell to Gokhan Inler on the edge of the box and he hit a powerful strike towards goal, only to see his effort well saved by Benussi.

The visitors came closer still when substitute Manolo Gabbiadini was afforded space and time to fire a shot at goal from inside the box, but his effort smacked off the woodwork and bounced clear.

Matters became tougher for Verona to see out the win when Sala was shown a second yellow card for his reaction to giving away a free kick to Gabbiadini. However, the home side managed to hold out in the dying minutes to secure the victory.