ROME – Another hit to his team’s Serie A title ambitions left Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne in tears following a 1-1 draw with Roma.
Insigne converted an early penalty but then watched as Roma dominated the second half at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona and finally equalized via Stephan el-Shaarawy in added time.
After getting beat 3-2 by Fiorentina eight days earlier, Napoli failed to pick up three points for a second consecutive home game.
With only five matches remaining, third-placed Napoli was four points behind league leader AC Milan and two points behind Inter Milan, which has a game in hand.
Insigne, who has already signed a deal to move to Toronto FC after this season, was visibly emotional as he saluted Napoli´s hard-core “ultra” fans after the game, AP reported.
The result wasn´t ideal for Jose Mourinho´s Roma either, as the Giallorossi were five points behind fourth-placed Juventus and the final Champions League berth.
Insigne´s penalty came following a foul by Roger Ibanez on Hirving Lozano. Eighty minutes later, El-Shaarawy swept in the equalizer following a backheel flick from Tammy Abraham.
Atalanta slumped to its fourth straight loss across all competitions with a 2-1 home defeat to Hellas Verona.
Verona hit the woodwork twice before Federico Ceccherini put the visitors ahead just before the break with a header that was confirmed after a video review.
Then Atalanta midfielder Teun Koopmeiners added an own goal early in the second half after a shot from Ivan Ilic rebounded in off his chest.
Giorgio Scalvini pulled one back for Atalanta with a header in the 82nd.
Atalanta has lost three straight in Serie A and was also eliminated from the Europa League by Leipzig last week.
Atalanta remained eighth, while Verona moved up to ninth.
Elsewhere, England striker Tammy Abraham had a chance to level on the hour mark, but he mistimed a close-range header, AFP reported.
A tense match threatened to boil over with four players booked in less than 20 second-half minutes.
Roma started to look dangerous going forwards and were furious that they were not given a penalty when Nicolo Zaniolo was tackled by Napoli ‘keeper Alex Meret.
The referee showed a red card to substitute goalkeeper Daniel Fuzato on the bench in the aftermath.
Mourinho was angry with the officials after the match, saying: “We need more respect, today it seems we didn’t have the right to play to win.”
Osimhen had an opportunity to put the game to bed late on as he bore down on goal, but the Nigeria striker poked into the side-netting.
Spalletti decided to replace Osimhen and Insigne late on and that proved costly.
Abraham’s flick found substitute El Shaarawy who fired a low shot into the bottom corner in the first of eight minutes of added time.
The momentum was all with the visitors, but Napoli at least held on for a disappointing draw.
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