Napoli and Inter shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium, with Luciano Spalletti heaping praise on the reigning Serie A holders in the aftermath. As per the Partenopei boss, the Nerazzurri showed why ‘they are the strongest team in Italy,’ even though the game ended level.
Napoli took the lead only seven minutes into the game as outgoing captain Lorenzo Insigne struck home from the spot. The home side looked in firm control of proceedings in the first half, barely letting Inter pose any threat to David Ospina.
Napoli even came close to double their lead through Piotr Zielinski, but the Pole’s curled effort rattled off the post midway through the first half. However, Inter restored parity only a couple of minutes after the break, with Edin Dzeko hammering the ball off the crossbar and into the net to level the score.
A draw better suited Inter, who maintained their one-point lead over Napoli with a game in hand. However, the Nerazzurri could temporarily lose the top place in the Serie A standings if Milan beat Sampdoria in Sunday’s clash at the San Siro.
Though Inter could slide to second by the end of the weekend, Spalletti believes that Simone Inzaghi’s men are the best team in Italy.
“We don’t have the physicality that Inter do, but the match must also turn on possession of the ball,” he said in the post-game talk, as relayed by SempreInter. “We had a team in front of us who can control the pitch and show all their qualities.
“They control the game well – they are Inter and they’re the Italian champions. They’re the strongest team in Italy. They demonstrated it on the pitch and not just with words.”
Despite Spalletti’s statement, it is fair to say that both sides’ performance flattered to deceive. Neither Napoli nor Inter made a decisive push to claim all three points inside the final 30 minutes of play. Indeed, both teams appeared to have settled for a draw, which could benefit Milan tomorrow.