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A scoreless draw is a result that never looks good on paper, but those who watched Thursday's fracas between Napoli and Dynamo Moscow in Russia knows that the match was anything but a bore draw. Now that the dust has settled, it's time to take stock and figure who was the best of the best, and that means one thing: match ratings.
Starters
Mariano Andujar - 7 - This was probably Andujar's best match since joining Napoli. Made a couple of tough saves, didn't do anything stupid as far as his positioning or decision making, and looked better, if still not great, in terms of his distribution. Could have done better on the two times that Dynamo put the ball in the net, but both were ruled out for offside, so no real harm done.
Christian Maggio - 5 - Decent-to-good in the first half, but wooooah was he poor in the second. Dzsudzsak and Zhirkov burned him again and again and again and again throughout the second half, and most of Dynamo's more dangerous chances came from his area.
Raul Albiol - 7 - Despite concerns coming in to the match, Albiol actually did a very admirable job in this match. While Britos worked on Kuranyi, Albiol drifted around the defensive area and picked supporting runs from behind Dynamo's striker. In the second half, that meant a lot of covering for Maggio, which he did well on. Also impressed defending on set pieces, which is not something we've been able to say much of this year.
Miguel Britos - 6 - Mostly did well marking Kuranyi, though it's little coincidence that when he slipped up and Kuranyi got space, Dynamo were at their dangerous every time. And there were quite a few times. On balance, though, Britos did more good than ill, and we'll take that every day of the week.
Faouzi Ghoulam - 8 - Put Kokororin in his pocket in defense and bombed forward with aplomb in attack, giving much-needed width and support to an attack that was painfully narrow otherwise. When Ghoulam is at his best, he's a real weapon for Napoli. Also had a massive moment defensively late in the match, when he came across the box and went high to keep a ball from getting to Kuranyi in space with a whole lot of goal to shoot in to unopposed.
David Lopez - 8 - Completely locked down Vainqueur and did a tidy job on Valbuena and Kokorin when Dynamo tried - and failed - to overload Napoli's midfield at various points of the match. Also was excellent defending set pieces today, something Napoli needed in a big way.
Jorginho - 8 - Tidy in possession, did very well marking Zhirkov and Valbuena in defense, and was Napoli's main creative force for most of the match. His precise long balls in to space gave Napoli's attacking midfield a bevy of good chances to work with, especially in the first half, and on a whole it looked like we have Good Jorginho back and ready to stay for awhile.
Jose Callejon - 5 - Callejon was plenty active and his pace and direct runs created a lot of problems for Dynamo, but... man. His finishing is terrible right now, his decision-making on the ball isn't much better, and he did zilch to stop Buttner from bombing forward when Dynamo won the ball back.
Manolo Gabbiadini - 6 - Provided excellent set piece service and his runs opened up a lot of space for others to work with, but didn't provide much of anything in terms of on-ball work in open play. Mostly just looked tired, actually.
Dries Mertens - 6 - His thundering shot off the crossbar aside, Mertens kind of drifted in and out of the match. He had some good moments and some head-scratching ones. This was his sixth match started in a row and he looked like he needs a break.
Gonzalo Higuain - 5 - Today we saw Pipita the Petulant instead of Pipita the Poacher. One of those isn't very good, and it's not hard to guess which.
Substitutes
Jonathan De Guzman - 5 - Apparently he had a few touches in his half hour on the pitch. I honestly don't remember any of them. Offered Napoli nothing in attack or defense.
Marek Hamsik - 6 - Offered Napoli a much-needed creative spark further up the pitch after he came on, and having him available to drive play did a LOT of good to help relieve a beleaguered defense that was facing near-unceasing pressure before he came on.
Camilo Zuniga - n/a - Wasn't on long, but helped lock down the right side of defense for Napoli, which had been problematic throughout the second half.
Who was your Man of the Match for Napoli against Dynamo Moscow? Vote in the poll below and discuss the performances in the comments!