Napoli 1 - 1 Inter: Dzeko cancels out Insigne

NAPLES - Inter recovered from conceding an early goal at the Stadio Maradona to earn a share of the spoils from their top-of-the-table clash with Napoli.

Lorenzo Insigne put the home side in the driving seat when he smashed home from the spot in the seventh minute but, while lesser sides might have crumbled having lost the derby seven days previously, the Nerazzurri showed their resilience to level through Edin Dzeko at the start of the second half.  

Despite dominating the rest of the game, Inter were unable to complete the comeback but the point means they stay top for another night at least. The standings now read Inter 54, Napoli 53, Milan 52 awaiting the Rossoneri's match with Sampdoria on Sunday but Inter will still have a game in hand after the weekend.

After the derby and the Coppa Italia quarter-final, it was on to Naples to face second-placed Napoli just days before the Champions League clash with Liverpool. 

The stakes were high and there was some fatigue within the squad but Inter knew they couldn't afford to ease off for a moment. With Simone Imzaghi serving his ban in the stands, his assistant Massimiliano Farris stood in for him in the dugout, like in the away match when Inter beat Empoli. 

Alessandro Bastoni was also in the stands suspended and with a sprained ankle while Luciano Spalletti had a virtually full-strength squad apart from Hirving Lozano and Axel Tuanzebe. His 4-2-3-1 pushed forward from the get go with class and intensity behind it.

Like in the reverse fixture at the San Siro, Inter struggled in the opening moments of the game and a foray down the left resulted in the opening goal. VAR stepped in to get the referee Daniele Doveri to take a look at a challenge on Victor Osimhen by Stefan De Vrij and he awarded a penalty. Insigne put it away despite Samir Handanovic going the right way. 

Inter were on the ropes and almost found themselves two down but Piotr Zielinksi clipped the outside of the post.

Napoli’s workman-like approach managed to suffocate Inter’s attack as they flooded the wide areas and made it hard for them to play out from the back and get balls up to the forwards.

The wide players were the ones who tried to get things going: Ivan Perisic with his cross in to Dzeko from the left and Denzel Dumfries cutting in from the right and shooting. Inter though weren’t firing on all cylinders and couldn’t find their rhythm. Meanwhile the defence had to be very alert to Osimhen, who posed a constant threat.

Inter realised that something had to give at half time and they upped the tempo and changed their game management and approach. The Nerazzurri immediately began pushing further forward and were more aggressive, willing to take more risks and put their hosts under pressure. 

Within two minutes Inter pulled level. Lautaro Martinez broke free on the right and put a cross in, which Dzeko didn’t connect well with. The ball however fell kindly into the forward's path and he fired it into the back of the net: Edin’s tenth league goal and Inter were right back in it again.

The goal opened the game up and Napoli now looked scared whenever Inter had the ball. Osimhen had his moments and caused the odd sharp intake of breath, with Handanovic outstanding to deny him with his feet. 

The Inter keeper outdid himself with 69 minutes on the clock as he desperately threw himself to narrow the angle when Elif Elmas appeared on the end of a wayward ball towards the back post. 

From there on it was all Inter, led by an inspired Perisic as they managed to build attacks and keep hold of the ball. There were no other clear cut-chances, in part thanks to Kalidou Koulibaly with a first-class intervention to stop Dumfries. 

The match was up for grabs until the 95th minute with Inter looking the more likely to win it but in the end the Nerazzurri left the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona with a very useful point.

Napoli 1-1 Inter (HT 1-0)Scorers: Insigne 7 (pen), Dzeko 47.

NAPOLI (4-2-3-1): 25 Ospina; 22 Di Lorenzo, 26 Koulibaly, 13 Rrahmani, 6 Mario Rui; 68 Lobotka, 8 Fabian Ruiz (99 Anguissa 74); 21 Politano (7 Elmas 26), 20 Zielinski (5 Jesus 84), 24 Insigne (33 Ounas 84); 9 Osimhen (14 Mertens 84)Subs not used: 1 Meret, 12 Marfella, 2 Malcuit, 4 Demme, 31 Ghoulam, 37 Petagna, 59 Zanoli.Coach: Luciano Spalletti.

INTER (3-5-2): 1 Handanovic; 37 Skriniar, 6  De Vrij, 32 Dimarco (33 D'Ambrosio 90+1); 2 Dumfries, 23 Barella, 77 Brozovic, 20 Calhanoglu (22 Vidal 84), 14 Perisic; 9 Dzeko, 10 Lautaro (7 Sanchez 84).Subs not used: 21 Cordaz, 97 Radu, 5 Gagliardini, 11 Kolarov, 13 Ranocchia, 36 Darmian, 47 Carboni, 88 Caicedo.Coach: Massimiliano Farris.

Booked: Insigne.Added time: 2+5 minutes.

Referee: Doveri.Assistants: Costanzo, Bindoni.Fourth official: Cosso.VAR: Di Paolo.Assistant VAR: Valeriani.