Milan pile pressure on leaders Napoli after Sassuolo collapse
NAPOLI have the Milan giants breathing down their necks in the Serie A title race after throwing away a two-goal lead late at Sassuolo to draw 2-2 yesterday.
Luciano Spalletti’s side looked set to maintain their three-point lead at the top following secondhalf strikes from Dries Mertens and Fabian Ruiz.
But a superb finish from Gianluca Scamacca with 19 minutes remaining put the hosts back in the game and Gian Marco Ferrari snatched a draw in the final minute with a bullet header.
AC Milan are just one point back in second and
Inter Milan another point behind in third following their respective wins over Genoa and Spezia.
Sassuolo thought they had won it in a frantic finale in which Spalletti was sent off when Gregiore Defrel slotted home.
But with the home players and fans celebrating wildly, the referee was called to check a Domenico Berardi foul on Amir Rrahmani and the goal was ruled out.
“It would have been a shame not to draw a match that I think we played on equal footing with Napoli, we kept playing at 2-0 and we deserved to draw,” said Sassuolo coach Alessio Dionisi to DAZN.
To make matters worse for Napoli, who were already without Victor Osimhen and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, they lost Ruiz and defensive lynchpin Kalidou Koulibaly to muscle injuries, and Spalletti suggested the pair would not be available for the visit of high-flying Atalanta.
“He (Ruiz) is having issues as is Koulibaly,“he said to DAZN
“It’ll be difficult to get them back in time, but we’ll see because we have good doctors here.”
“We had to do something more, but Sassuolo are a good team and we accept the result,” Spalletti added.
“Unfortunately, we lacked the quality to cope with their pressure. They were really aggressive in the end and they managed to draw, so praise to them.”
Milan took full advantage with their 3-0 stroll at Genoa despite starting centreback Simon Kjaer being stretchered off early with a knee injury, while Inter ran out 2-0 home winners over Spezia.