Napoli title celebration on hold after draw with Salernitana

Napoli will have to wait at least a few more days to seal the Serie A title after drawing 1‐1 with regional rival Salernitana on Sunday — dis‐ appointing legions of fans of the southern club who had already started celebrating in anticipation of the championship.

The Partenopei could have clinched with a record six rounds to spare if they beat Salernitana but Boulaye Dia equalized for the visi‐ tors six minutes from time after Mathias Olivera had given Napoli the lead.

"The guys are so disappointed they couldn't provide joy to the amazing crowd," Napoli coach Lu‐ ciano Spalletti said.

The result left runaway leader Napoli 18 points ahead of second‐ place Lazio, which lost 3‐1 at Inter Milan earlier.

Third‐place Juventus could leapfrog Lazio and move into sec‐ ond if it wins at Bologna later.

Napoli is attempting to win the Italian league for the first time since Diego Maradona led the club to its only two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990.

Olivera scored just after the hour mark with a header inside the far post from a corner. Dia then drib‐ bled by Napoli center forward Vic‐ tor Osimhen and unleashed an angled shot to equalize.

"These are the most difficult points on a psychological level and they take something from you," Spalletti said. "Salernitana are or‐ ganized and they shut down in de‐ fense, which made it more difficult, and then we were a little naive on the goal we conceded."

Napoli visits Udinese in its next match on Thursday, a day after Lazio hosts Sassuolo and Juventus hosts Lecce.

Napoli can now clinch the title with a win at Udinese on Thursday, and could even seal it a day earlier if Lazio and Juventus don't win.

Napoli fans had been celebrating inside and outside the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona for hours be‐ fore the match — raising their voices even louder after Lazio lost, which set up the chance for Napoli to clinch.

The game had been moved back a day from Saturday on a request from local authorities to maintain public order. But Salernitana, which hasn't lost in more than two months, wouldn't let the celebra‐ tion happen.

Osimhen had a couple of early chances for Napoli – one of them stopped by Salernitana's standout goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa, who recently went to his fifth World Cup with Mexico.

Ochoa also negated an opportu‐ nity from Napoli midfielder Andre‐ Frank Zambo Anguissa in the first half.

There was also a long, curling ef‐ fort from Napoli's dribbling wizard Khvicha Kvaratskhelia that sailed high shortly after the break.

The match finally enlivened with a deadball opportunity, as Olivera beat several defenders to meet a corner from substitute Giacomo Raspadori and send it beyond Ochoa's reach.

Kvaratskhelia nearly doubled the advantage with a shot that missed just wide in the 80th. Minutes later, after Olivera was removed to make room for another defender, Dia equalized.

"We had two decisions to make. We knew that defending deeper — not something I like to do — was the first choice. Then after conced‐ ing the goal we reshuffled and tried to hurt them," Salernitana coach Paulo Sousa said.

Napoli fans applauded their team at the final whistle.

"We sense the affection loud and clear in our ears and minds," Spal‐ letti said. "This just extends the en‐ joyment."

INTER COMEBACK

Lautaro Martinez scored twice and Romelu Lukaku provided two assists as Inter came back from a goal down to beat Lazio and set up the opportunity for Napoli to seal it.

Inter defender Francesco Acerbi lost possession to set up an early Lazio goal from Felipe Anderson, with Ciro Immobile also helping out before the Brazilian fooled the de‐ fense to gain some space and fire in from the edge of the area.

After numerous chances for Inter, the Nerazzurri finally equalized in the 78th when Lukaku threaded a through ball for Martinez, who scored from the center of the area as he was sliding to the ground.

Lukaku then provided a cross‐ field pass that Robin Gosens redi‐ rected in with an acrobatic volley near the far post — injuring himself in the process.

Martinez scored his second in the 90th after a defensive error.

It was only the second win in seven Serie A matches for Inter, which has reached the Champions League semifinals and Italian Cup final.

"It was one of our best perform‐ ances," Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said.

Inter moved up to fourth, level on points with fifth‐place AC Milan and sixth‐place Roma.

Also, Sassuolo beat Empoli 2‐1 and Cremonese and Hellas Verona drew 1‐1.

Bayern back on top of Bundesliga after 2‑0 win over Hertha

Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman scored to send Bayern Mu‐ nich back to the top of the Bun‐ desliga with a 2‐0 win over last‐place Hertha Berlin on Sun‐ day.

Gnabry made the breakthrough with a diving header to Joshua Kimmich's cross in the 69th minute and Coman sealed the win 10 minutes later, again thanks to a fine pass from Kimmich.

It was enough to send Bayern one point clear of Borussia Dort‐ mund with four rounds left. Dort‐ mund, held to a 1‐1 draw in Bochum on Friday, must now hope for a favor from Bayern's re‐ maining opponents — Werder Bremen, Schalke, Leipzig and Cologne — if it is to end the Bavar‐ ian powerhouse's 10‐year reign as German champion.

Hertha had goalkeeper Oliver Christensen to thank for avoiding a heavier loss. The visitors were not expected to cause too many problems for Thomas Tuchel's side after conceding 10 goals in their previous three games — all de‐ feats.

Hertha remains the prime candi‐ date for relegation. It's bottom of the league and six points from the relegation playoff spot.

Bayern dominated the first half as expected but found it hard to break through the visitors' hard‐ working defense.

Gnabry had the best chance saved by Christensen and Sadio Mané was unable to reach a couple of promising crosses from the lively Coman.

Bayern had 14 attempts com‐ pared to Hertha's one, but there were whistles at halftime from many of the home fans, who ex‐ pected a better return.

Highly rated teenager Ibrahim Maza made his Hertha debut in the 65th, but it was another forward who scored at the other end four minutes later and Bayern had its breakthrough.

"German champion will only be FCB (FC Bayern)," the home fans sang with the players afterward.