Stephan El Sharaaway scored in injury time to cancel out Lorenzo Insigne’s early penalty and give Roma a 1-1 draw in Naples in a fiery clash that had a lot riding on it.There is a traditional and deep-rooted animosity between the Italian capital and anyone south of it. There’s a cultural, historical, footballing and a gap in mentality. They are different and they don’t like each other at all. Prime example – the cities of Rome and Naples, and their football teams, of course.In such an ill-tempered atmosphere, Napoli and Roma met in a top-of-the-table affair. Well, nearly top of the table. Napoli are trying to keep up with Milan and Inter in the title race while Jose Mourinho’s Roma are desperate to overtake Juventus and qualify for the next season’s Champions League.
In a game of two nervous teams, Hirving Lozano was one of the most annoyed was also among the most productive ones. He cut in from the right flank and was fouled by Gianluca Mancini in the box. Penalty to Napoli. Captain Insigne stepped up and dispatched the spot-kick confidently to give his team the lead.
The Giallorossi struggled against a highly physical Napoli side, managed by their former coach Luciano Spalletti. The sheer presence of Khalidou Koulibaly and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa made it very hard for Tammy Abraham, Niccolo Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini to create some space and test goalkeeper Alex Meret.
On the other end, Lozano, Insigne and Victor Osimhen were looking dangerous, albeit without creating too many chances of note. Between all the foul words, finger-pointing and crunching tackles on either side, the Romas just managed to stay in the game until the end and try to force a late equalizer.The injury to Zaniolo proved a blessing in disguise for Mourinho as the Portuguese sent Stephan El Shaarawy on with five minutes remaining. And it was the Egyptian-Italian winger who finished from a Tammy Abraham knock-on and silenced the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. The home fans were stunned in the realisation that the Scudetto will probably stay out of their reach again – mostly due to their team’s inability to kill off matches and keep their lead time and time again.
The result doesn’t particularly suit Mourinho either, but the salvaged point would surely be a boost for their squad. They showed strong character by finally beating Bodo/Glimt last week and now they salvaged a point in the fiery region of Campagna.SERIE A – ROUND 33FridaySpezia – Inter 1-3 (0-1)/Maggiore 88 – Brozovic 31, Martinez 73, Sanchez 90+4/Milan – Genoa 2-0 (1-0)/Rafael Leao 11, Messias 87/SaturdayCagliari – Sassuolo 1-0 (1-0)/Deiola 42/Udinese – Empoli 4-1 (1-0)/Ismajli 6 og, Deulofeu 52, Pussetto 79, Samardzic 87 – Pinamonti 70 pen/Sampdoria – Salernitana 1-2 (1-2)/Caputo 32 – Fazio 4, Lourenco 6/Fiorentina – Venezia 1-0 (1-0)/Torreira 30/Juventus – Bologna 1-1 (0-0)/Vlahovic 90+4 – Arnautovic 52/Lazio – Torino 1-1 (0-0)/Immobile 90+2 – Pellegri 56/MondayNapoli – Roma 1-1 (1-0)/Insigne 11 pen – El Sharawy 90+1/22.00: (1.66) Atalanta (3.80) Verona (5.60)