Venezia beat Napoli 1-0 in Serie A as Davide Nicola wins debut and Massimiliano Allegri faces fresh scrutiny

On 19 October 2026, Venezia defeated Napoli 1-0 in a Serie A match in Venice, giving new manager Davide Nicola a winning debut and intensifying questions around Massimiliano Allegri's start at Napoli.

Venezia arrived having lost their first six games of the Serie A season and being the only top-flight side without a point; a banner in the stands read, “I’ll love you even if you win.” The club sacked Giovanni Stroppa after a 3-1 defeat by Atalanta in the first game back following the international break and replaced him with Nicola, who had been dismissed by Cremonese last March when that side were 18th.

Nicola set Venezia up in a patient low block and took advantage early in the second half when a long punt from Simon Sohm looped off Napoli defender Amir Rrahmani and fell kindly for Akor Adams, who took a touch to his right and struck back across his body from the edge of the area to beat Alex Meret and make it 1-0.

Napoli introduced Kevin De Bruyne, Alisson Santos and Rasmus Højlund from the bench but could not overturn the deficit as Venezia goalkeeper Filip Stankovic saved a penalty from De Bruyne, produced a one-handed stop from Stanislav Lobotka and denied Alisson in the 90th minute; the match finished 1-0, Venezia’s first victory of the campaign.

The defeat renewed scrutiny of Allegri, who was appointed to replace Antonio Conte in the summer and has presided over five defeats in nine games. Napoli’s losses to Inter and Como were noted in the article, and their failure to take any points at home to Arsenal or away to Villarreal in the Champions League group stage has put qualification for the knockouts at risk.

The report highlighted that Napoli created enough chances to score against Venezia, with Juan Jesus producing a last-ditch tackle to stop Højlund soon after his introduction, and questioned Allegri’s selection and timing of substitutions — asking why players such as De Bruyne, Højlund and Alisson had started the match on the bench.

The piece set out the club’s summer and winter recruitment, stating Napoli spent more than €150m between the 2025 and 2026 windows on signings including Lorenzo Lucca, Sam Beukema and Noa Lang, and committed a further €60m to making Højlund and Alisson’s initial loans permanent; Allegri has used 23 players already this Serie A season and said of his reputation as an “aziendalista”: “that word, to me, is a compliment.”

Kevin De Bruyne’s relationship with Allegri was also examined, quoting De Bruyne to Il Corriere dello Sport that Allegri is “a little bit more relaxed, a bit more informal, and from what I’ve seen he takes more care of the personal connection with the players.” The article recalled an incident in the Villarreal defeat in which De Bruyne appeared to resist Allegri’s instruction to drop into midfield to make space for Scott McTominay, with both men gesturing in frustration; Allegri attributed that exchange to a language barrier.

The result leaves Napoli under increased pressure domestically and in Europe, with their Champions League knockout qualification described in the report as being at risk after the club failed to pick up points against Arsenal and Villarreal in the group stage.