Mario
Balotelli scored his first Serie A goal for 1,468 days but Napoli hung on to
claim a narrow victory over Brescia at Stadio San Paolo.
Dries
Mertens opened the scoring with his fourth league goal of the season before
Kostas Manolas headed in the second on the stroke of half-time.
Brescia
rallied after the break but Sandro Tonali’s stunning goal was ruled out by VAR
for a foul in the build-up.
Balotelli
headed home to set up a tense finale, but Napoli held on.
The
29-year-old last found the net in Italy’s top flight on 22 September 2015 in AC
Milan’s 3-2 win at Udinese, before spells at Nice and Marseille in France.
He returned
to Italy to join hometown club Brescia in August on a three-year deal.
The result
sees Napoli strengthen their grip on fourth place in Serie A, while Brescia
remain 14th.