Serie A leaders Inter Milan stayed top of the table on Saturday thanks to a 1-1 draw away to second placed Napoli, but it could so easily have been three points for Inter until Philip Billing climbed off the bench to give the hosts a share of the spoils with his 87th minute strike.
The result leaves Simone Inzaghi’s Nerazzurri one point ahead of Antonio Conte’s Napoli and, in a hard fought match the hosts could easily have won, with the majority of possession, 19 shots to six and four to one on target. Inter’s one was a beauty though as Federico Dimarco curled a sweet free-kick around the Napoli wall and into the net to give his team the lead half way through the first half. I Partenopei threw everything at their visitors but it looked like it wouldn’t be their day.
Romelu Lukaku latched on to a long ball and had a sight of goal but he smashed his shot into the side netting, and then he almost teed up the equaliser but Stanislav Lobotka’s fierce strike flew just over the bar. But as the fans in the Diego Maradona Stadium started to give up hope, Billing stepped up. The Dane took a pass from Lobotka and when his first shot was parried by the Inter keeper he reacted quickly to fire home the leveller and the ground erupted.
Inter are on 58 points with Napoli on 57 and with 11 games to play the Scudetto is still wide open; but the Serie A 2025 betting odds have shifted slightly towards Milan. I Nerazzurri have a Round of 16 Champions League clash against Feyenoord to play and with multiple priorities Inzaghi will need to use his squad to the full. Napoli are not involved in Europe but they have big games against Fiorentina and AC Milan to come up with very little room for error. This Serie A title race is bubbling up nicely.
Napoli and Inter Milan faced off in the SBOTOP clash of the weekend but third placed Atalanta had, on paper, an easier task…but La Dea blew it.
Atalanta fire a blank
Habitually free-scoring Atalanta missed a chance to draw alongside Napoli and close the gap to Inter to a single point after failing to break down 19th placed Venezia. It was a frustrating display by the hosts as Gian Piero Gasperini’s attacking unit were oddly under par when they had a chance to really get stuck into the title race. Atalanta were wasteful in front of goal, particularly former Fulham star Ademola Lookman who scored twice as La Dea thrashed Empoli 5-0 last week. He had a golden opportunity on 20 minutes but Lookman fired wide with the goal at his mercy, and the game would have been totally different had that shot gone in.
Davide Zappacosta and Juan Cuadrado both hit the woodwork before the break but the frustration in Bergamo grew as the game wore on without a breakthrough.
Capocannoniere leader Mateo Retegui had two good headed chances and then he blasted over a presentable chance in the second half, and he’ll feel he should have extended his six goal lead at the top of the scoring charts.
It’s been a bad week or two for Gasperini’s men who have crashed out of the Champions League and the Coppa Italia and, while a point was a great result for Venezia, they are winless in ten games and are in real danger, down in 19th place and five points from safety.
Torino climb as Monza fall
In other Serie A 2025 news Torino made it back to back wins and continued to climb the table while moving 12 points clear of the drop zone thanks to a 2-0 victory away to bottom club Monza. January signing Eljif Elmas scored the opener in his third game for Il Toro with a smart finish late in the first half, it was his second goal for Torino. And Cesare Casadei made the game safe with his first Serie A goal. The Azzurri U21 star came close to scoring with the match at 0-0 but he made no mistake with his next opportunity hammering the ball home from close range. While Il Toro are comfortable in mid table, Monza are in grave danger, now nine points from safety.
Elsewhere Fiorentina moved up to seventh place thanks to a 1-0 win over Lecce on Friday night and Bologna beat Cagliari 2-1 to go sixth; and with AC Milan playing Lazio on Sunday night the race for European places is hotting up too.
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