Serie A | Torino 1-0 Napoli: Simeone sinks his beloved old club

TURIN, ITALY – OCTOBER 18: Giovanni Simeone of Torino celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the Serie A match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino on October 18, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Penicino/Getty Images)

Giovanni Simeone scored the winning goal for Torino, and a late VAR check handed injury-hit Napoli their second defeat in Serie A this season.

The Partenopei were without Scott McTominay, Rasmus Hjøjlund, Stanislav Lobotka, Amir Rahmani, Romelu Lukaku and Nikita Contini, while Matteo Politano and Alessandro Bongiorno were also not fully fit, so they were replaced by Billy Gilmour, Juan Jesus, Lorenzo Lucca and David Neres. Zakaria Bouhlal, Tino Anjorin, Ivan Ilić, Zanos Sava and Père Schuurs, while Ardian Ismadiri was only on the bench. Giovanni Simeone and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic played against their former club.

See how it all unfolded in our live blog.

TURIN, ITALY - OCTOBER 18: Kevin De Bruyne of Napoli stands with the ball during the Serie A match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli at Stadio Olimpico di Torino on October 18, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Penicino/Getty Images) — TURIN, ITALY – OCTOBER 18: Kevin De Bruyne of Napoli stands with the ball during the Serie A match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico di Torino on October 18, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Penicino/Getty Images)

Nikola Vlasic was unlucky not to give Torino the lead in the 15th minute. He beat former teammate Vanja Milinkovic-Savic with a diagonal drive, but it just deflected inside the far post.

Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick tested Franco Israel, the former Manchester City player’s curler went inches wide after a mistake from Marcus Pedersen and Matthias Olivera failed to convert a crucial flick from a six-yard assist.

Torino broke the deadlock with Simeone setting an offside trap following a mistake from Gilmour, but Simeone still had work to do, grounding Giovanni di Lorenzo and Milinkovic-Savic and returning from an angle. The former Napoli man waved and apologized to his old fans and recently admitted he cried for hours after leaving the club.

Moments later, Simeone’s pass rebounded awkwardly before Marcus Pedersen fired a shot wide of Sam Beukema.

Che Adams’ shot was deflected into the side netting by Juan Jesus, Israel blocked Leonardo Spinazzola’s shot, and Andre Franck Zambo Anguissa’s header from Spinazzola’s cross was deflected with his fingertips.

TURIN, ITALY - OCTOBER 18: Napoli's Giovanni Di Lorenzo attempts to block a shot by Torino's Che Adams during the Serie A match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli at Stadio Olimpico di Torino on October 18, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Penicino/Getty Images) — TURIN, ITALY – OCTOBER 18: Napoli’s Giovanni Di Lorenzo attempts to block a shot by Torino’s Che Adams during the Serie A match between Torino FC and SSC Napoli at Stadio Olimpico di Torino on October 18, 2025 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Penicino/Getty Images)

De Bruyne was unable to contain the volley after Noah Lang’s pull-back, and Napoli began to take a flurry of corner kicks as Milinkovic-Savic came right on the heels of Adams’ shot.

They forced Toro into their own half, but Spinazzola’s cross was cleared almost on the line by Saúl Coco, who then sent Spinazzola’s cross over the bar for the first time by Elgif Elmas.

Duvan Zapata just grazed Cristiano Biraghi’s free-kick with his head, and Spinazzola stabbed Israel’s glove in stoppage time.

Napoli erupted into cheers in stoppage time when Matteo Politano’s curler hit the base of the far post and into Israel’s back, and Noah Lang returned the rebound a few yards. However, when Politano took the first shot, Lang was ruled offside and the goal was disallowed.