Napoli draw at Parma gives Inter chance to put one hand on Serie A title
Napoli's Serie A title defence suffered a blow with Sunday's 1-1 draw at Parma which gave league leaders Inter Milan the chance to move nine points clear.
Scott McTominay's drilled finish on the hour mark gave Napoli a draw which may well not be enough for the champions to claim a third Scudetto in four seasons.
Napoli trail Inter by six points, a gap which could increase following the late match between the Milan giants and Champions League chasers Como.
Antonio Conte's team were on the back foot within 36 seconds. That was how long it took for Gabriel Strefezza to race on to Nesta Elphege's knock-on and beautifully curl home Parma's opener.
Napoli struggled to break down the hosts who were content to sit deep and soak up the pressure and deny the away team a sixth straight league win.
Last weekend's win over AC Milan had reopened the prospect of retaining the title but a draw at the Stadio Ennio Tardini has made that feat less likely with six matches remaining in their season.
"I told the boys that there is a very thin line that separates winners and losers," said Conte.
"If you concede a goal after 30 seconds it's inevitable that a match which was already going to be against a deep-lying team was going to become even more like that.
"They rightly put up the barricades and tried to hit us on the counter... in the end I can't really criticise the team for their desire and commitment."
Parma are level on 36 points with Genoa, who also took a step towards safety with a tumultuous 2-1 win over Sassuolo in the day's early fixture. Both teams were down to 10 men for the second half following a tunnel bust-up.
Caleb Ekuban tapped home Genoa's winner with six minutes remaining in front of a typically passionate crowd at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris who watched their team move nine points clear away from the relegation zone in 13th.
Genoa midfiedler Mikael Ellertsson and Italy international Domenico Berardi were sent off after a row blew up just after the half-time whistle, with the hosts leading through Ruslan Malinovskyi.
A.Ahmad--CdE
