Juventus and Napoli draw and do Inter a favour

Juventus are not good enough to win the title. Nor are Napoli. These two teams left Milan as the only contender to de-throne Inter from the Serie A throne in the remainder of the campaign after yet another unconvincing display. Napoli led against the run of play, Juve levelled but neither team showed enough incentive to earn the points at Allianz Stadium in Turin.The hosts started the match brightly and were dictating the tempo from the off. But the wily visitors managed to punish them as soon as the Bianconeri started to take it easy. Dries Mertens showed his class by placing a terrific shot across Wojciech Szczesny to give the Neapolitans the lead. It wasn’t what Juventus expected.Federico Chiesa nearly levelled for Juve, but saw his goal-bound effort steered behind for a corner. And Juan Cuadrado missed from a good position. Soon-to-be-former Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne threatened to double the lead for the southerners just before the break but his attempt from the edge of the box was saved by Szczesny.Pulsating stuff at Stadio Olimpico! Sergej stars for Sarri’s wasteful band of merry menJuventus’s pressure finally resulted in a goal nine minutes into the second half when Chiesa levelled after his movement and reading of the game allowed him to score from a follow-up. We were back at square one.Massimiliano Allegri’s misfiring stars were on the front foot for most of the second half but couldn’t find a way through David Ospina. Substitute Paulo Dybala did come close with 20 minutes to go when he dispossessed Stanislav Lobotka and fired from a long way out.Moise Kean fell short in injury time as another chance for Juventus went begging and Dybala missed the goal from a free kick that proved to be the very last kick of the game. The frustration boiled over for the hosts as they surrounded the referee in protest because they weren’t given more time to try and find the winner. In reality, the added time ran even longer than it was needed. It’s not looking good for the best-supported club in Italy. Inter and Milan are currently the only contenders for the Scudetto.SERIE A – Round 20ThursdayBologna – Inter POSTPONEDAtalanta – Torino POSTPONEDSalernitana – Venezia POSTPONEDFiorentina – Udinese POSTPONEDSampdoria – Cagliari 1-2 (1-0)/Gabbiadini 18 – Deiola 55, Pavoletti 71/Lazio – Empoli 3-3 (1-2)/Immobile 14, Milinkovic-Savic 66, 90+3 – Bajrami 6 pen, Zurkowski 8, Di Francesco 75/Spezia – Verona 1-2 (0-0)/Erlic 85 – Caprari 59, 70/Sassuolo – Genoa 1-1 (0-1)/Berardi 55 – Destro 7/Milan – Roma 3-1 (2-1)/Giroud 8 pen, Messias 17, Leao 82 – Abraham 40/Juventus – Napoli 1-1 (0-1)/Chiesa 54 – Mertens 23/

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