A strike from Luca Toni has handed Hellas Verona a 1-0 half-time lead in their Serie A clash against Napoli.

The home side took the game to Napoli in the opening minutes as Juanito Gomez raced clear of the defence, but Mariano Andujar came off his line to dispossess the forward and prevent him from firing his team ahead.

However, Verona took the lead in the seventh minute when Toni showed desire to beat two Napoli defenders to the ball, rounding Andujar before slotting home from a tight angle.

Napoli hit back with a decent chance as they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box, although Faouzi Ghoulam's strike was well gathered by Francesco Benussi.

Just before the break, the home side went close again when Jacopo Sala raided down the left and fired the ball low across the face of goal, but it whizzed just out of the reach of Bosko Jankovic.