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Both teams instantly began playing openly. Napoli's first
chance came from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who forced Yann Sommer with a save.
Inter came close to taking the lead, but Nicolò Barella's attempt fell short.
The initial goal came from a set-piece situation, with Amir Rrahmani's header
from a corner causing a scramble that McTominay took advantage of to score from
close range. Napoli nearly doubled their advantage after Çalhanoğlu's reckless
pass almost allowed Kvaratskhelia to score, but Francesco Acerbi made a
critical tackle to save the day. Acerbi then had a wonderful chance to
equalize, but his shot was stopped by Alex Meret. Inter equalized near the end
of the first half thanks to Çalhanoğlu's outstanding performance. His
thunderous shot from outside the box into the top corner of the net, leaving
Meret defenseless. This score provided the home team more momentum going into
the second half.
In the second half, Inter played more aggressively. Federico Dimarco nearly
gave his team the lead as his shot hit the post. Meanwhile, Napoli was
strengthened by Stanislav Lobotka, who had recently recovered from an injury.
Inter had a golden opportunity to turn the situation around after Denzel
Dumfries was fouled in the penalty box, but Çalhanoğlu failed and the ball hit the post. This incident became noteworthy because he had
missed 1 in 18 penalty attempts for Inter. Barella continues to pose a menace
to Inter's front line, forcing Meret to make important stops. Meanwhile, Napoli
came close to scoring the winning goal in the dying minutes. Cyril Ngonge made
a wonderful pass to Giovanni Simeone, but the Argentine striker's effort went
over the bar despite being in an excellent position.
This result keeps Napoli at the top of the Serie A standings, but their lead is getting smaller since they are only one point ahead of Inter and other teams such as
Atalanta, Lazio, and Fiorentina.
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