Napoli 4 - 0 Frosinone: Gonzalo Higuain breaks Serie A scoring record as Napoli hammer 10-man Frosinone

Posted Sunday, May 15, 2016 by PA

Gonzalo Higuain wrote himself into the Serie A record books as his hat-trick fired Napoli to a 4-0 win over 10-man Frosinone, which seals their runners-up spot.

Higuain's 19-minute second-half treble sees him become the first man to ever score 36 goals in a Serie A campaign, nudging ahead of AC Milan's Gunnar Nordahl, who scored 35 in 1949-50.

It was also a night to remember for Marek Hamsik, who put himself alongside the legendary Diego Maradona in scoring 81 league goals for Napoli - the second highest in the club's history.

The win, which kept them in second place, fending off Roma, books Napoli's qualification into the group stages of the Champions League next season.

Frosinone, whose relegation fate had already been confirmed, were up against it from the moment Mirko Gori was sent off in the 13th minute.

By the time Gori was enjoying an early bath, the hosts were already well on top.

Higuain spurned a fine chance with the game only five minutes old when he put his shot from a fine position inside the penalty area just wide.

Elseid Hysaj also missed the target before their visitors were reduced to 10 men when Gori walked after a poor tackle on Lorenzo Insigne, with Roberto Crivello also booked for his protestation.

Insigne was in the thick of the action and, after he tested Frosinone goalkeeper Massimo Zappino with a low shot, he came within inches of putting Napoli in front when he sent an effort from Hamsik's pass crashing into the crossbar.

With their numerical advantage Napoli unleashed an unrelenting onslaught on their visitors' goal as Jose Callejon was denied twice and an overworked Zappino did well to deny Vlad Chiriches.

Finally they made the breakthrough and they chose a good time to do it, with Frosinone just a minute away from the refuge of the dressing rooms.

Hamsik had gone close moments earlier when Zappino made another save but there was nothing the keeper could do to stop his 44th-minute effort, which he rocketed home from close range.

There was little surprise in how the second half went and it belonged to Argentina striker Higuain.

His first of the evening came seven minutes after the restart when he superbly struck into the bottom corner from 12 yards out after good work by Allan.

He levelled Nordahl's record when he turned in Hysaj's centre from close range just after the hour before making history nine minutes later by slashing home into the roof of the net.

Daniel Ciofani tried to give hapless Frosinone something to cheer but he had two efforts saved before Napoli missed a host of chances to improve their goal difference.

Faouzi Ghoulam had a shot blocked in the area and then Zappino made one more save to deny Dries Mertens with a header from Hysaj's cross.

But it was Higuain's evening as he walked away with the matchball and a place in the history books.