Napoli felt very helpless from their draw against Roma (2-2) after a tremendous duel by Svilar between the sticks prevented a fair win. A difficult result for Francesco Calzona’s team to continue their quest to play in Europe next season.
Napoli dominated in all aspects of the game except the finish. Di Lorenzo was sharp, Lobotka was dominant, Kvaratskhelia was inspired and Osimhen had all the colors but all that was not worth the ‘Azurri’ with a calm game. Quite the opposite for Roma, who do almost nothing to score.
His merit is having Svilar between the sticks. The ‘giallorossi’ goalkeeper had up to 10 shots between the sticks and they only overcame him twice where he was unable to do anything. Although it was all new, and to Napoli’s disbelief, Roma took the lead. Due to the penalty from Juan Jesús, a specialist in the beating, on Azmoun Dybala converted (59′).
Disbelief was unfazed by Naples, who sped up to restore the score. However, it seemed impossible to beat Svilar until Olivera’s shot was deflected by Kristensen and described a parabola impossible for the goalkeeper (64′). And Svilar continued to lock down until Renato Sanches made a careless mistake in the area by tripping Kvaratskhelia in the calf and after a VAR review the penalty was declared which Osimhen converted (84′).
However, not all fish were sold. Football is fickle and Roma, who hardly did anything worthwhile even to tie, did it. It was on a corner kick where Calzone decided to make a substitution, something unusual, and where Abraham scored (89′). It was ruled out for offside, but after the lines were thrown it was upheld.
There is still time for Naples to suffer again from Svilar’s inspiration. Or even if he failed, Mancini’s did, parrying a point-blank shot by Osimhen that meant a crucial victory for Naples’ European aspirations.
match lineup
1
22
17
68
13
5
99
24
9
twenty-one
77
99
43
37
4
23
5
52
7
17
twenty-one
92
Diego Armando Maradona
Mile Svilar99
Rasmus Kristensen43
85′
63′
Leonardo Spinazzola37
Bryan Cristante4
74′
Gianluca Mancini23
Evan Ndicka5
79′
Edoardo Bove52
68′
68′
Lorenzo Pellegrini7
83′
Sardar Azmoun17
68′
69′
Paulo Dybalatwenty-one
58′
85′
Stephan El Shaarawy92
60′
Replacements
Rui Patricio1
Pietro Boer63
Dean Huijsen3
Zeki Celik19
Angelino69
60′
87′
Renato Sancheztwenty
68′
68′
87′
Houssem Aouar22
Tommaso Baldanzi35
85′
Nicola Zalewski59
Riccardo Pagano60
69′
Tammy Abraham9
68′
87′
85′
João Costa67
coach
Francesco Calzona
Daniel De Rossi
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
