Napoli failed to capitalize on a golden opportunity to close the gap at the top of Serie A, settling for a 1-1 draw against Bologna on Monday.
Despite Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s brilliant first-half strike, a moment of individual brilliance from Dan Ndoye ensured the points were shared.
With Inter Milan having dropped points in a draw at Parma over the weekend, Napoli could have cut the deficit to a single point.
Instead, they stay second on 65 points, trailing the league leaders by three. Bologna, meanwhile, remain in fourth place with 57 points.
Anguissa opened the scoring in the 18th minute, pouncing on a loose ball near the halfway line before slicing through Bologna’s defense and rounding goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski to calmly finish into the net.
Skorupski was later forced off due to injury and replaced by Federico Ravaglia, who stepped up with a string of impressive saves to keep his side in contention.
The highlight of the night came just after the hour mark when Ndoye pulled off a sensational back-heel flick from inside the box.
The ball clipped the underside of the crossbar and crossed the goal line, drawing Bologna level in spectacular fashion.
Napoli’s backup goalkeeper Simone Scuffet, who started after Alex Meret fell ill before kickoff, made a vital save in stoppage time to deny Emil Holm and preserve the draw.
With Antonio Conte serving a touchline suspension, assistant coach Cristian Stellini led Napoli from the sidelines. He acknowledged his team’s drop in intensity after halftime.
“It was a very good first half, we had prepared an aggressive approach with a lot of movement and intensity, which we did very well,” Stellini told DAZN. “After the break, we certainly lacked something, perhaps we focused more on defending than attacking.
“So when you lose the momentum in this atmosphere against a team in Bologna’s form, it is a struggle to get that back.”
On the other side, Bologna’s manager Vincenzo Italiano was content with the performance despite missing a chance to overtake Atalanta and move into third.
“We’ll take the point and that fantastic performance from the players,” Italiano said. “A draw against one of the best teams in Serie A is still very good, a team where you can risk on the counter-attack, but at the end of the day we keep the run of positive results going, but also build on the quality of our performances.”
