ROME – Napoli fails to regain victory and at the Olimpico they suffer their third consecutive draw, finishing 2-2 against Lazio: Dia's goal in the 87th minute avoids defeat for the Neapolitans, who now risk losing the top of the table; Inter, engaged in tomorrow's derby d'Italia, has the opportunity to overtake.
With the absences of Neres and Spinazzola, Antonio Conte opts for a change of formation, fielding a 3-5-2 with Raspadori alongside Lukaku. On the other side, Baroni has to deal with the injured Dia and launches Pedro as a starter in the attacking midfield. Lazio starts strong and, after an initial chance on a free kick by Tavares, finds the lead in the 6th minute with an extraordinary goal by Isaksen: the Biancoceleste winger takes advantage of a mistake by Rrahmani and unleashes a missile from 30 meters that hits the bottom of the crossbar.
Napoli's reaction was immediate: an erroneous clearance from Provedel was intercepted by McTominay, who served Raspadori. The Azzurri striker exchanged with Lukaku, beat two opponents and beat the Lazio goalkeeper with a precise low left-footed shot. In the 25th minute, Baroni lost another important player: Castellanos was injured and forced to leave the field. At the end of the first half, Lazio almost regained the lead with Rovella, but Meret blocked it with a great save.
In the second half, Napoli started better and created two chances with Di Lorenzo and Lukaku, but Provedel was alert. Lazio responded with a counterattack orchestrated by Tavares, who served Isaksen, who however wasted the opportunity by shooting wide. Conte tried to change the inertia of the match by bringing on Politano and the move proved to be a winning one: the Italian winger crossed into the area for Raspadori, whose shot was blocked by Gila, but on the rebound Marusic clumsily deflected it into his own net, giving Napoli the 2-1.
When victory seemed close, Lazio found the equaliser in the final minutes. Entered in the final quarter of an hour, Dia made the most of a ball in the area and beat Meret at the far post with a precise left-footed shot, sealing the final 2-2. In injury time, Noslin attempted a shot from outside, but the Azzurri goalkeeper parried it at the near post. Another misstep for Napoli, who now risks being overtaken in the standings by Inter. For Tale and his men, the problem is not only the result, but also a team that struggles to maintain high concentration for the entire 90 minutes.
Article published on 15 February 2025 - 19:59
Napoli played a good game but ultimately failed to win. Lazio showed they are in good shape, but I think there were also errors by the referees that influenced the final result of the match.