Lazio's Tijjani Noslin Scores Hat-Trick To Eliminate Napoli From Italian Cup

Napoli suffered a disappointing exit from the Italian Cup as they were defeated 3-1 by Lazio on Thursday. Tijjani Noslin was the star of the match, scoring a hat-trick to propel the Serie A leaders to the quarter-finals. Lazio will now prepare to face either Inter Milan or Udinese in the next round. Noslin's impressive performance brought his goal tally for the season to five. The Dutch attacker opened the scoring with a header in the 32nd minute, only for Napoli's Giovanni Simeone to equalize soon after. However, Noslin regained the lead for Lazio just before half-time with a superb dummy and finish after a swift attacking move. Inter Milan will host Udinese in the upcoming fixture at the San Siro.

And the 25-year-old made sure of Lazio's passage to the last eight in four minutes after the break with another header from a pinpoint cross from Mattia Zaccagni, who also had a penalty saved midway through the first half.

Thursday's cup tie between largely second-string line-ups was a warm-up for Sunday night's Serie A clash between the two team in Naples, when Napoli will try to hold on to their slender league lead.

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Napoli are one point ahead of Atalanta and four in front of Inter, Fiorentina and Lazio heading into the weekend's league fixtures.

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