Genoa's Calaio comes back to haunt Napoli
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E-mail Xinhua, February 25, 2014
Emanuele Calaio sensationally scored a free-kick against his parent club Napoli to pull off a 1-1 draw for visitors Genoa in the Italian Serie A on Monday.
Napoli were 1-0 ahead with 18 minutes into play through Gonzalo Higuain who met a perfectly-weighted throughball from Marek Hamsik.
Substitute Calaio, a loanee from Napoli, provided a stunning twist to this entertaining match with seven minutes remaining, beating Pepe Reina with a curling free-kick from 30 yards.
Napoli head coach Rafa Benitez admitted his side paid the price for not "finishing off" Genoa in the first half.
"The first half was the key for me, as we wanted to score two or three goals and then control it after the break. We didn't achieve that, we knew they were dangerous and that at 1-0 we were always in the balance," he said.
"Clearly if we win our games, then it's easier to think we can finish second. We must understand that this type of match has to be finished off by halftime and that is all," he said.
Genoa head coach Gian Piero Gasperini insisted his side well deserved the draw.
"Napoli started strong, but we had several dangerous counterattacks with Moussa Konate. We ran a few more risks after the break and I think the draw was thoroughly deserved," he said.
In an earlier kickoff, Parma and Fiorentina played to an action-packed 2-2 draw which witnessed three red cards.
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