Inter’s road to the title hits speed bump after Napoli draw
MILAN — Inter Milan’s march towards a 20th Serie A title was slowed down on Sunday by reigning champion Napoli, which escaped the San Siro with a creditable 1-1 draw.
After fighting back from Matteo Darmian’s opener shortly before halftime, Juan Jesus nodded home Napoli’s leveler with nine minutes remaining to snatch a deserved point.
Leader Inter still needs 14 more points from its remaining nine fixtures to claim the Scudetto, after its huge advantage on AC Milan was cut to 14 points with its local rival winning 3-1 at Verona.
It was another disappointing result for Simone Inzaghi’s Inter, following a painful exit from the Champions League at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, ending a 10-match winning streak in the league.
“We’re disappointed how the match went ... We were really good in the first half and at the start of the second. After that we dozed off for the goal, which cost us the win,” said Inzaghi to DAZN.
“Napoli had more of the ball but (goalkeeper Yann) Sommer had basically nothing to do.”
It was a symbolic fixture for Inter as it is outperforming Napoli’s incredible charge to its historic third league crown.
Even after Sunday’s draw, Inter has more points, has scored more goals and has a significantly better goal difference than Napoli did at the same stage last season.
However, its dream of securing the title with a record-equaling five matches to spare by beating Milan in next month’s derby is now less realistic than before kickoff.
Napoli was missing Victor Osimhen after the Nigeria forward picked up a hamstring problem in training, and it put up a brave fight after being dumped out of Europe by Barcelona on Tuesday.
Assuming Italy gets five Champions League spots next season, Napoli is six points from a place in Europe’s top club competition as Roma, in fifth, beat Sassuolo 1-0 thanks to a goal from Lorenzo Pellegrini.
Napoli goalscorer Jesus said he believed that Napoli can reach next season’s Champions League despite a non-existent title defense, which has left his team in seventh.
“We believe we can do it, there are a lot of points up for grabs and we have home matches with direct rivals Atalanta, Bologna and Roma,” added the Brazilian.
“We need to give everything to get into the Champions League.”
Milan on a roll
Goals shortly before and after halftime by Theo Hernandez and Christian Pulisic put Milan two scores ahead at Verona, before Samuel Chukwueze volleyed the away side out of sight with 11 minutes remaining.
Sunday’s win moved Milan three points ahead of third-placed Juventus, who was held to a goalless draw by Genoa, in the race for Champions League soccer.
Stefano Pioli’s side might be miles behind Inter, but it is all-but guaranteed a spot in next season’s Champions League as it sits 11 points above Roma.
“We played very well as a team and we created a huge amount. It was a really positive performance,” said Pioli to DAZN after his team’s fifth straight win in all competitions.
Verona put on a good show, and Tijjani Noslin’s unstoppable strike in the 64th minute gave the host hope it could pull off another good result after winning its previous two matches.
Instead, Verona stays two points above the relegation zone with a potentially huge clash at fellow struggler Cagliari coming up after the international break.
Serie A confirmed that Fiorentina’s fixture at Atalanta had been postponed due to general manager Giuseppe “Joe” Barone being taken ill with what Italian media reported as a heart attack.