Monza 1-4 Napoli: a Defence Shipping 22 Goals Can't Hold

Four goals away from home. Napoli beat Monza 4-1 and take three points that matter: 14 in the table, sixth place after 9 matchdays.

For Monza it is another miserable night. After this result they are 16th on 7 points: 2 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats in 9 games. They have scored 16 and conceded 22. A side that lets in more than its attack can produce has no margin for error, and against Napoli it showed.

How the two sides arrived

Monza were not in good form. In their last 5 games, across the league and friendlies, they have 1 win, 1 draw and 3 defeats, with 11 goals scored and 11 conceded. Their last Serie A outing was a 3-2 defeat at Torino, preceded by a 4-0 home win over Cagliari and a 3-1 away loss to Lazio. A rollercoaster: one thrashing handed out, two games lost after conceding three each time.

Napoli had the extra load of the Champions League, and their form is mixed. Over the last 5, across Serie A and the Champions League: 2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats, 11 goals scored and 10 conceded. The 3-3 draw with Roma was the most recent game, before that a 4-3 win over Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League, a 1-0 loss at Venezia, a 3-1 defeat at Villarreal and a 3-0 win over Frosinone. The defence has leaked, while the attack has scored 3 goals or more in 3 of the last 5.

The current league numbers, which already include the 4-1, tell the story: Napoli have 17 goals scored and 11 conceded, Monza 16 scored and 22 conceded. With attacks of similar weight, the difference is the defence.

What the head-to-head says

Recent history points the same way. In the last 5 meetings Napoli have won 3, Monza 1, with 1 draw and 11 goals in total. The most recent meeting, in April 2025, ended 1-0 to Napoli at Monza. Napoli had already scored 4 there in April 2024 (a 4-2 win). Monza won the only one of the 5 meetings that went their way in May 2023, 2-0. In December 2023 there was a 0-0 draw.

The season's scorers

The biggest name among the league scorers is Gustavo Varela: 8 goals and 1 assist for Monza. Of the team's 16 goals, 8 carry his signature: the attack seems to lean heavily on him. At the other end, K. De Bruyne has 4 goals and 1 assist in Serie A.

What the numbers tell us

A 4-1 is never just a number. But the pitch confirms what the current table suggests: a top-half side against a bottom-half one, with 22 goals conceded. Monza scored and have shown this season that they can hurt teams, as in the 4-0 against Cagliari. But the gap at the back remained.

What to watch next

Two things to watch. First: whether Napoli, now on 14 points, can turn a big win into consistency after a stop-start run across the league and the Champions League. Second: whether Monza, on 7 points with 22 goals conceded, find a defensive response as early as the next matchday. That will show whether last night was a blip or a snapshot of the season.