Internazionale 1-1 Napoli – Jesus strikes late as league leaders Inter held at home in Serie A

Inter’s march towards the Scudetto experienced a slight stumble as a late headed goal from Juan Jesus cancelled out Darmian’s first half opener.

The draw was only the third time this season that Inzaghi side have dropped points at home, and the first occasion in any game all season when they’ve conceded inside the last 15 minutes.

Both teams returned from mid-week Champions League exits to play out 90 minutes of Sunday night laboured football, with the result fair on balance.

The home side had the better of the first half by way of chances though neither side was overwhelmed with opportunities.

The breakthrough goal, when it came, on 43 minutes was carefully constructed from a series of cross-pitch passes. The music stopped on Matteo Darmian. The 34-year old found himself with space in the middle and rifled home a well-picked cut-back from Alessandro Bastoni.

In the second half Napoli had the better of the possession and their persistence paid off on 83 minutes.

It came from their seventh corner of the game, a contentious one that replays may yet show shouldn’t have been awarded.

Nonetheless the legitimacy of it was no excuse for Inter leaving Juan Jesus unmarked at the far post, as Matteo Politano’s inswinging set-piece dropped perfectly for him to head home.

They pressed for a winner but had to settle for the single point, which keeps their Champions League hopes just about alive.

This has been probably the worst week of the season for the Inter manager so far, and still he’s probably going to sleep perfectly fine tonight. The worst thing that can be said about his players against Napoli was that they looked sluggish – psychologically and physically – which is entirely understandable given nine of them played out a match and a third in Madrid on Wednesday. Inter may not win the title by a record breaking points margin – though they still might – but the nine remaining matches look set to see them coast towards a 20th scudetto.

It was fitting that the player who did the most at the back to prevent the champions-elect from putting Napoli to the sword should be the one to grab the late equaliser for them. Jesus was solid as a rock at the centre, and frustrated Lautaro Martinez as much as any single player has this season. Not once did the league’s top scorer look like ending what for him is something of a goal drought – he’s now gone three games without a goal – and Jesus’ tight marking was the principal reason why.

The Brazilian centre-half also has the honour of being the only player this season to score against Inter in the last fifteen minutes of a Serie A fixture.

INTER: Sommer 5; Pavard 6, Acerbi 6, Bastoni 5, Darmian 7, Barella 7, Calhanoglu 6, Mkhitaryan 5, Dimarco 7, Thuram 6, Lautaro 6… Subs: Dumfries 6, Frattesi 6, Buchanan 6, Bisseck 7, Sanchez 6

NAPOLI: Meret 7, Di Lorenzo 7, Rrahmani 6, Jesus 8, Olivera 6, Anguissa 7, Lobotka 7, Traore 6, Politano 7, Raspadori 6, Kvaratskhelia 7… Subs: Mario Rui 6, Cajuste 6, Lindstrom NA, Ngonge NA, Simeone 7

13’ – Chance for Inter! Meret makes two great saves in short succession. First he parries a close range header from Thuram, then palms away a rocket from Lautaro. Inter should have taken the lead there.

43’ – Goal for Inter! A well-constructed goal in which the ball is played back and forth across the pitch. The final pass is a cut-back from Bastoni to Darmian in the middle, who finishes it off low and to Meret’s left.

47’ – Chance for Inter! The ball is threaded through to Lautaro but Lobotka arrives back and does enough to put off the striker, whose shot is not as good as it could have been and is parried by Meret.

81 – Goal for Napoli! The champions take their best chance of the game. No-one was picking up Jesus as he ghosted into the box where the flick-on from Politano’s corner is easily headed home.