Amadou Diawara left it very late to fire Napoli to a nervy 2-1 victory over Chievo that keeps their hopes of winning the Serie A title alive.
Maurizio Sarri’s side went into Sunday’s game at the San Paolo seven points adrift of leaders Juventus, who beat Benevento on Saturday, but found Chievo tough opposition.
The Flying Donkeys resisted until Fabio Depaoli’s foul on Dries Mertens in the 51st minute brought a penalty, but Chievo goalkeeper Stefano Sorrentino saved Mertens’ effort.
Substitute Mariusz Stepinski gave Chievo a shock lead in the 73rd minute, driving home a fantastic effort from an Emmanuele Giaccherini pass, but Napoli replacement Arkadiusz Milik levelled a minute from time.
And three minutes into stoppage time, Diawara plundered the winner following a corner.
Earlier, Inter Milan missed the chance to climb into third place as Adem Ljajic scored the only goal of a 1-0 home win for Torino.
Both Hellas Verona and Crotone grabbed lifelines in their battles to beat the drop as strikes from Romulo and Simy secured 1-0 victories against Cagliari and Bologna respectively.
Romulo benefited from a video assistant referee review after Leonardo Pavoletti handled in the box, the Brazilian right-back slotting home a spot kick despite keeper Alessio Cragno getting a touch.
Simy converted an Adrian Stoian cross at Crotone’s Stadio Ezio Scida. The southern club are now level on points with 17th-placed SPAL, while Hellas are another two points off the survival pace.
Be the first to comment