Napoli give Inter Scudetto hope after being held by Genoa

Napoli’s bid for a second Serie A title in three seasons was hit by Sunday’s 2-2 home draw with Genoa which allowed Inter to move to within a point of the league leaders thanks to their dramatic 2-0 win at Torino.

Antonio Conte’s team’s destiny is still in their hands with two matches remaining in the season, and two wins against Parma and Cagliari will secure the Scudetto.

But Inter will have hope of retaining their league crown after Johan Vasquez’s thumping header gave Genoa a deserved draw at a packed Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Giacomo Raspadori thought he had won the game and all but secured the title for Napoli in the 64th minute after a wonderful piece of skill to control Scott McTominay’s pass.

McTominay also set up Romelu Lukaku’s 15th-minute opener which was cancelled out in the 32nd minute when Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret inadvertantly diverted Honest Ahanor’s header into his own goal.

The cheers will have rung around the blue and black half of Milan when Vasquez powered home Genoa’s late leveller, after Nicola Zalewski and Kristjan Asllani gave Inter just their second away win in eight Serie A matches under torrential rain.

“It’s not up to us, so all we can do is do our jobs. That’s what happened today,” said Inter coach Simone Inzaghi.

“Now we’ve got a few days’ rest after the tour de force the boys have had recently.”

Inter could have done without more drama after their epic Champions League semi-final win over Barcelona on Tuesday, but the match was barely underway when it was stopped as aid was rushed to a Torino supporter who had fallen from a stand.

An attritional match which Inter started with nine changes from their midweek triumph went in the away side’s favour in the 14th minute when Zalewski spun and curled home his first goal for the champions.

The game was stopped a minute from half-time as rain became a biblical downpour which left the pitch in Turin unplayable.

Even though the first half was completed following a short pause, the two teams then remained in the dressing rooms for over half an hour as the rain continued to pour.

Once back out, Asllani almost immediately doubled Inter’s lead with his second penalty in as many weeks, after Mehdi Taremi was brought down by Torino goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.

That goal was enough for Inter to claim the points and hand mid-table Torino a first home defeat of 2025.

Earlier, Verona inched towards safety from relegation with a 1-1 home draw with fellow strugglers Lecce which moved Paolo Zanetti’s team five points above the drop zone.