Last-gasp Napoli keep title ambitions alive
Title-chasers trailed until the 89th minute
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Last-gasp goals from Arkadiusz Milik and Amadou Diawara kept Napoli’s title ambitions alive with a 2-1 win over Chievo on Sunday to maintain pressure on Serie A champions Juventus.
Maurizio Sarri’s title-chasers looked destined to remain seven-points behind the reigning champions as they trailed until the 89th minute in their San Paolo Stadium.
Polish striker Mariusz Stepinski’s goal on 73 minutes had put the relegation battlers from Verona ahead, with Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino making a string of saves including a Dries Mertens penalty.
But Milik headed in the equaliser with one minute to go with Guinean midfielder Diawara grabbing the winner four minutes later deep into injury time.
Juventus’s 4-2 win over Benevento on Saturday had opened up a seven-point advantage as the Turin giants chase a seventh straight title.
But the gap is now back to four points as Napoli continue to push for a first Scudetto since 1990. “We won a game that we deserved to win,” said Napoli coach Sarri.
“It seemed as if there was some sort of curse on the ■ match. The statistics were blatantly in our favour and the finale brought logic to the match. I’m very happy for the fans because we wouldn’t have turned this game around without them.”
Despite dominating Napoli had little to show for their efforts with Stepinski breaking through on Chievo’s first real chance after sloppy defending by the hosts.
A Lorenzo Tonelli header rattled the crossbar minutes later, with Sorrentino clearing a curling Insigne goal-bound shot and Mertens and Piotr Zielinski also hitting wide.
But in the final minute with the whistles of the home crowd growing louder, Insigne crossed for Milik with Diawara ensuring Napoli keep pace with Juventus with the two sides going head to head in Turin on April 22.
Earlier Adem Ljajic scored the only goal for Torino to ensure former club Inter Milan missed the chance to move third.
Inter could have overtaken AS Roma after the side from the capital lost 2-0 at home against Fiorentina on Saturday.
But Luciano Spalletti’s side now risk dropping out of the Champions League places with Lazio — two points behind in fifth — travelling to Udinese later on Sunday.
It was the first time that Torino coach Walter Mazzarri had faced his former club Inter since being fired in November 2014.