Napoli, Roma face off in Serie A classic
IN-FORM Napoli and inconsistent Roma meet on Sunday for a Serie A classic that follows their good midweek showings in the Champions League.
The Neapolitans are second, four points adrift of Juventus, and regret to only have drawn 2-2 at Paris Saint-Germain yesterday as Lorenzo Insigne and Dries Mertens twice put them ahead, only to see Angel Di Maria clinch a last-ditch equaliser.
“We’re disappointed obviously because we had almost won,” said Insigne, who has struck six times in domestic action and twice in the continental tournament.
“But it was still a great performance. I’m pleased about my goal, but I’d be even happier if we had got the victory. It was a nice (chipped) strike, but I have to thank the team who put me in the position to score.”
Roma relished their Tuesday performance, a 3-0 home win against CSKA Moscow marked by Edin Dzeko’s opening brace, which helped them forget an embarrassing 2-0 home crash to Spal.
“It is hard to speak about it because (last Saturday) we should have done more and won against Spal,” said Dzeko, who is now on 80 goals for the Giallorossi.
“(On Tuesday) we gave more. For sure we need more consistency, beginning from myself and from the whole squad.”
The Romans had poor showings earlier against underdogs Bologna, who beat them 2-0, and tailenders Chievo, who drew 2-2 in Rome; they currently sit 11 points from the top, four points away from the four-place Champions League zone, after nine league games.
Juve’s task appears easy at strugglers Empoli tomorrow, a week after the reigning champions made a first false step by drawing 1-1 at home to Genoa, which ended a run of eight Serie A wins.
Sitting third, two points behind Napoli, Inter face now a tough Monday visit to Lazio while AC Milan welcome solid Sampdoria on Sunday.
Matchday 10 opens tomorrow with Atalanta vs Parma followed by the Juve game and Torino vs Fiorentina. Sunday action includes Sassuolo vs Bologna, Genoa vs Udinese, Spal vs Frosinone and Cagliari vs Chievo. – dpa