Dries Mertens and Marek Hamsik hat tricks help Napoli rout Bologna

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:49 am

Dries Mertens, centre, and Marek Hamsik, right, accounted for six of Napoli's seven goals.
Dries Mertens, centre, and Marek Hamsik, right, accounted for six of Napoli's seven goals.
GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/Getty Images

Dries Mertens and Marek Hamsik each scored hat tricks as Napoli extended their unbeaten streak to 17 matches in all competitions with a 7-1 rout at Bologna in Serie A on Saturday.

and Lorenzo Insigne also found the target in a match that saw both sides reduced to 10 men before half-time and a Bologna penalty saved at the Renato Dall'Ara stadium.

The result marked the first time Napoli have ever scored more than six goals away in Serie A.

Napoli, who haven't lost since a 2-1 defeat to Juventus on Oct. 29, leapfrogged Roma into second place, three points behind leader Juventus and one ahead of the Giallorossi.

Hamsik opened the scoring four minutes in, diving forward to head in a bouncing cross from Jose Callejon.

Two minutes later, Insigne finished off a counterattack that began with goalkeeper Pepe Reina, using expert control and shooting from the edge of the area.

Reina dived to his left to stop a penalty from Mattia Destro after Callejon was leniently shown a yellow for using his hand to interfere with a header.

Callejon's grace period didn't last long, though, as the referee then showed him a direct red for a hard foul on Adam Nagy.

In a wild first half, Bologna's Adam Masina was then sent off for fouling Mertens in another debatable decision.

Shortly after the half-hour mark, Mertens curled a free kick into the top right corner.

Vasilis Torosidis pulled one back for Bologna in the 36th by heading in a rebound but Mertens quickly restored Napoli's superiority, using his speed to finish after taking a pass from Piotr Zielinski.

After a brief respite at the start of the second half, the goals kept coming from Napoli. Hamsik used one touch to finish after being set up by a no-look pass from Mertens in the 70th minute, then the Napoli captain scored again with a long, curling shot four minutes later.

Mertens finished things off late on with an angled effort for his 16th goal of the season.

Napoli have only one more match -- at home against Genoa on Friday -- before traveling to Madrid for the first leg of the Champions League's knockout phase five days later.