Napoli salvage point after Malen twice puts Roma ahead

Napoli lost ground in their pursuit of the two Milan clubs but held on to third in Serie A as they fought back twice to draw 2-2 at home against fourth-placed Roma on Sunday.

Champions Napoli slipped 11 points behind leaders Inter and three adrift of second-placed Milan, who have a game in hand.

Napoli stayed three points ahead of Roma and pulled four clear of Juventus who lost to Inter on Saturday.

Roma grabbed the lead for the first time on seven minutes.

Donyell Malen, who arrived on loan from Aston Villa in January, smashed the ball in at the near post from a low cross by another winter loanee Bryan Zaragoza, who arrived from Bayern Munich.

Napoli responded in the 40th minute when left wing-back Leonardo Spinazzola hammered in a shot from outside the box against his former club.

Roma regained the lead in the 71st minute. Wesley Franca drove past Amir Rrahmani. The defender gave chase, stepped on Franca’s heels and then fell on top of him.

Before the penalty was taken, Napoli coach yanked the Kosovar off and replaced him with Brazilian midfielder Alisson Santos.

Franca, meanwhile, went off injured.

From the spot, Malen again fired the ball high to Vanja Milinkovic-Savic’s left for a fifth goal in five Serie A appearances.

But Santos saved Napoli in the 82nd minute. He worked some space on the edge of the Roma penalty box and drilled a low shot inside the near post.

That earned Napoli a second home draw in five days, although on Tuesday they were still eliminated from the Italian Cup, losing on penalties after being held 1-1 by Como.