Napoli left the leaders of Serie in Inter Milan who have the hook on Monday after being held in a 1-1 draw at Chasers Bologna Chasers, who missed the chance to go to third place. Antonio Conte’s team seemed to move to a point behind the Champions Inter when Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa opened the scoring in the 18th minute at Stadio Renato Dallara. Anguissa’s goal came in a good half of Napoli, but Bologna finished stronger and Dan Ndoye gave the hosts a deserved point when he lowered the low cross of Jens Odgaard in the crossbar in the 64th minute.
And Napoli had Simone Scufet, for the goalkeeper of first choice, Alex Meret, to thank when he brilliantly distant the powerful powerful head of Emil Holm in the last minute before Santiago Castro managed to react on the rebound.
“It was a chance to get all the points, that would have given us the reward for our fabulous second half,” said Bologna coach Vincenzo Italiano.
“We have kept them in their own half, created many promising situations. We are going to take the point but I am very happy with the second half which was brilliant of my players.”
Napoli remained second in three points behind the Inter who had given their rivals an opening by launching an advance of two goals at halftime in their 2-2 draw in Parma on Saturday.
This gap will strengthen the Inter before they take Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Tuesday, because the Simone Inzaghi team has a much more difficult running-in even without their European commitments and the semi-final of the Italian Cup with AC Milan.
The last seven games of the Napoli League are all against teams in the lower half of the table while the Inter must play in Bologna, Roma and Lazio who all try to qualify for the Champions League.
“Let’s start with the fact that we played very well in the first half,” said Napoli’s deputy coach, Cristian Stellini, in place of the suspended content.
“After the break that we lacked something, we tried to defend rather than attacking, and when you lose your rhythm on land like this against a good team in great shape, he had to recover it.”
Bologna would have moved above Atalanta – beaten by Lazio on Sunday – in third with a seventh consecutive victory, but they remain fourth and seem a good bet for a place in the European Elite Club competition.
Under Italiano, Bologna is not only fighting for football in the Champions League, but also has a foot in the Italian Cup final when they hold a 3-0 lead from the first stage of their last draw with Empoli.
Bologna has only lost once since the beginning of the year and only resolved the defense against Napoli and the big hands of Scuffet prevented them from taking the three points before the huge confrontation of next weekend in Atalanta.
(This story has not been published by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a unionized flow.)
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