Napoli have been the only unbeaten side in Serie A going into this game, but they suffered a major blow when they needed to be on top of their game – on their visit to title holders Inter. But despite scoring first, Luciano Spalletti’s team was beaten by Inter after a late, late drama.Polish striker Piotr Zielinski gave the southerners a somewhat unexpected lead on 17 minutes, but Khalidou Koulibaly’s handball gave Hakan Calhanoglu a chance to level from the spot. The Turk made no mistake.
And just before the break Ivan Perisic scored with a header that was seemingly saved on the line by David Ospina. However, goal-line technology confirmed that the ball had fully crossed the line and it was 2-1 to the Nerazzurri.Napoli were left without their best goalscorer Victor Osimhen ten minutes into the second half. The Nigerian international had suffered a strong blow to the head in an aerial duel and had to come off.
The visitors were broken completely just five minutes later. They tried to put pressure on Inter by attacking in numbers and were expertly punished by Joaquin Correa and Lautaro Martinez. The latter scored a nice goal low into Ospina’s corner.Napoli’s Belgian forward Dries Mertens made sure we had an exciting finish to the match when he found the net with a long-range effort out of nothing, making the most out of Edin Dzeko’s dwelling on the ball.
It was an entertaining game of football – just as we wanted. And there was drama in injury time as Napoli went searching for what would have been a dramatic equalizer. Mario Rui thought he scored with a downward header, but Inter captain Samir Handanovic provided a miraculous save to tip the ball over the crossbar and keep his side in the lead.
There was eight minutes of high-octane action in the added time, but Inter survived another Martens’ chance to do what no team has done this season – to beat Napoli.SERIE A – Round 13SaturdayAtalanta – Spezia 5-2 (3-1)/Pasalic 18, 41, Zapata 38 pen, Muriel 83, Malinovsky 89 – Nzola 11, 90+1/Lazio – Juventus 0-2 (0-1)/Bonucci 23 pen, 83 pen/Fiorentina – Milan 4-3 (2-0)/Duncan 15, Saponara 45+1, Vlahovic 60, 85 – Ibrahimovic 62, 67, Venuti 90+6 og/SundaySassuolo – Cagliari 2-2 (1-1)/Scamacca 37, Berardi 51 pen – Balde 40, Pedro 56/Bologna – Venezia 0-1 (0-0)/Okereke 61/Salernitana – Sampdoria 0-2 (0-2)/Di Tacchio 40 og, Canderva 43/Inter – Napoli 3-2 (2-1)/Calhanoglu 25 pen, Perisic 44, Martinez 61 – Zielinski 17, Mertens 78/22.45: (5.20) Genoa (3.80) Roma (1.75)Monday20.30: (1.85) Verona (3.70) Empoli (4.60)22.45: (2.10) Torino (3.40) Udinese (3.90)***odds are subject to change