Hart no match for Mertens

Dec 20, 2016 06:00 am

Dries Mertens put four goals past England's Joe Hart as rampant Napoli completed a 5-3 win over Torino yesterday morning (Singapore time) to move up to third place in Serie A.

Mertens has been pushed into the main striker's role by coach Maurizio Sarri to fill in for missing centre forward Arkadiusz Milik, who is scheduled to return from a knee ligament injury next month.

The form of Belgium forward Mertens has also made up for the departure of 36-goal hero Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus last summer.

Mertens has now scored eight goals in his past three league games for Napoli and has 10 league goals this term, two fewer than league-leading trio Edin Dzeko (AS Roma), Mauro Icardi (Inter Milan) and Andrea Belotti (Torino).

For Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis, it was the chance to take another shot at Higuain - whom he accused of "betrayal" last summer despite pocketing 90 million euros (S$136m) from Juve for his sale.

"Is it just me or has Mertens scored 10 goals just like Higuain?" De Laurentiis quipped. - AFP