Verona greeted early spells of Granata pressure with great austerity, backed by a vehement support rallying Marco Zaffaroni’s men to extend their dominant form at home to four undefeated matches. Ondrej Duda spurned the first real opportunity of the evening by sending his point-blank effort inches wide of the post, before Salernitana breathed a sigh of relief following Darko Lazović’s disallowed goal due to offside.
The Gialloblu didn’t have to wait long though, immediately reacting with a goal via Ngonge, who sweetly volleyed home the opener after connecting perfectly with an accurate Lazović cross. Having conceded 24 goals in their previous eight away league games, the visitors did well thereafter to keep the hosts at bay, and came close themselves from Boulaye Dia’s shot that flashed just wide on the verge of HT.
Davide Nicola executed a hattrick of midfield substitutions worthy of launching a much-needed offensive, which certainly worked in their favor as the minutes rolled on. However, a lack of ideas to carve through the home defence left the visitors scratching their heads. Despite being forced on the back foot, Verona paid little attention to Campania side’s dominance, looking rather comfortable retaliating on the counter.
Verona are one of the two Serie A sides to have failed to score between the 75th minute and FT in any league game this term, but that didn’t matter at the least against a toothless Granata outfit who missed a chance at the death via Krzysztof Piątek. The Granata’s last ten league games have now yielded just one win, as they sit just four points ahead of the nearest relegation candidates, who coincidentally are the Gialloblu.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Darko Lazović (Hellas Verona)
