Napoli squandered a chance to overtake Inter at the top of Serie A on Wednesday, but a late fightback earned them a 2-2 draw against Verona.
The hosts found themselves two goals down by the 27th minute, only for Scott McTominay and Giovanni Di Lorenzo to drag them back into the game with second-half strikes.
The result keeps Napoli within a point of leaders Inter ahead of their match against Parma.
Verona struck first through Martin Frese, who cleverly backheeled Cheikh Niasse’s cross into the net in the 16th minute. The lead doubled when Gift Orban converted a penalty after Alessandro Buongiorno was penalized for handball.
Napoli responded after the break, with McTominay heading home a Noa Lang corner past Nicolas Valentini nine minutes into the second half.
Rasmus Hojlund came close to equalizing on multiple occasions, including a disallowed volley in the 72nd minute and an offside call on Amir Rrahmani’s finish.
Their persistence paid off eight minutes from time when Di Lorenzo finished Luca Marianucci’s cross at the near post to level the score.
Napoli pushed for a late winner but were lucky not to concede again after Giovane’s audacious lob grazed the side netting during stoppage time.
Despite the scare, Napoli remain the only club in Europe’s top five leagues to be unbeaten at home in 2025, boasting a record of 21 games without defeat across all competitions (15 wins, six draws).
They dominated possession early but struggled in the first half, with Verona outshooting them and generating an expected goals (xG) of 1.69 compared to Napoli’s 0.56.
The hosts improved significantly after the break, taking 11 shots to Verona’s seven and creating 0.53 xG compared to the visitors’ 0.21, extending their home unbeaten streak to 23 games.
