Napoli hold Inter and keep lead in crowded Serie A title race

Napoli held Inter Milan to a 1-1 draw on Sunday and maintained their lead at the top of Serie A as a host of teams now line up to contend for top spot.

Antonio Conte’s Napoli are a point ahead of Inter and three other teams after escaping the San Siro with a hard-fought draw in which Hakan Calhanoglu slammed a 74th-minute penalty off the post.

Calhanoglu held his head in his hands after missing his first penalty in 18 attempts for Inter, after a soft foul on Denzel Dumfries which enraged Conte as VAR officials did not intervene.

“There’s a refereeing decision which can change a match of this importance but VAR can’t intervene? What are we talking about? Is VAR here to correct mistakes or not?”, a livid Conte told DAZN.

“VAR is there to correct decisions, end of story… this is something that pisses me off, and not just me but all coaches.”

Turkey captain Calhanoglu, who had fired Inter to a win over Arsenal from the spot in the Champions League midweek, blasted home the hosts’ equaliser two minutes before the break after Scott McTominay tapped Napoli ahead midway through the first half.

From there Inter took the initiative and were unlucky not to go ahead through Federico Dimarco in the 53rd minute, when the Italy full-back’s low drive crashed out off the base of the post.

“I’m sorry that I missed my first penalty, I knew that sooner or later it would happen but it’s a shame that it happened today because it was a very important match,” said Calhanoglu.

Inter sit fourth but only two points separate the top six, with Juventus just behind the four teams right on Napoli’s heels.

Second on goal difference are Atalanta, who won their sixth straight league match after coming back from a goal down at half-time to beat Udinese 2-1.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s side came through thanks to Mario Pasalic’s leveller 11 minutes after the break and an own goal from Isaak Toure moments later.

Buoyant supporters jokingly chanted “we’re going to win the league” after watching their team battle back after going behind on the stroke of half-time to a thunderous strike from Hassane Kamara.

“You can’t stop fans from dreaming… but the reality is that there’s no point talking about the Scudetto now,” said Gasperini.

– Kean reborn at Fiorentina –

Fiorentina are also one of the quartet right behind Napoli — as are Lazio who won 1-0 at Monza — thanks to Moise Kean’s first professional hat-trick, which earned his team a 3-1 win over Verona.

Kean has scored 11 times in all competitions for Fiorentina since signing from Juventus in the summer, and his treble moved his new team up to third following a sixth straight league win.

The 24-year-old has been reborn in Tuscany after failing to score a single goal at Juve last season.

“I can’t deny that I wanted him when I was at Monza, I think he’s a great striker,” coach Raffaele Palladino told DAZN.

“He’s gathering the fruits of his own hard work… It’s also down to the team, everyone defended and attacked together today.”

Roma sacked Ivan Juric less than two months after he was hired to replace Daniele De Rossi as they languish just four points above the relegation zone in 12th following a 3-2 defeat to Bologna in front of livid fans, a large chunk of whom decided to leave at half-time in protest.

Former Italy coach Roberto Mancini is reportedly set to become Roma’s fourth coach of 2024 following Juric, De Rossi and Jose Mourinho, who was fired in January.

The capital club’s technical director Florent Ghisolfi admitted that “history would suggest” that it was a mistake to sack De Rossi so early in the campaign.

Roma, who scored through a Stephan El Shaarawy brace, travel to Napoli after the international break before then having to face Tottenham Hotspur in London and Atalanta at home. (BSS/AFP)