by Serie A (Italy) leaders Napoli, with Portuguese international left-back Mário Rui in the starting line-up, beat Roma 2-1 last Sunday night, a side led by Portugal’s Jose Mourinho – and which had the keeper Rui Patrício among the starting positions – at the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona, in Naples, in the game that ended the day’s matches of the 20th round of the competition and in which the team from the capital recorded their fifth defeat in the competition.
The hosts, coached by Luciano Spalletti, return 12 points ahead of second-placed Inter in the standings: Napoli has 53 points, to 40 from the “nerazzurri”, after the 20th matchday.
A game in which Mário Rui was very active, having played a part in the Nigerian Victor Osimhen’s 14th goal in this Serie A season: he passed to Zielinski, the Georgian Kvaratshkelia crossed from the left and the African, on the opposite side. , dominated the chest, straightened his thigh and shot in a defenseless way towards Rui Patricio, very strong and built, on his right foot, making it 1-0 at 17′: great goal!
The Portuguese goalkeeper of Roma – a team that with 37 points remains in sixth place – had already prevented Kvaratshkelia from opening the scoring earlier (5′) and prevented Zielinski from increasing the lead for the Neapolitans in the first half (39′).
Only after the opening half hour of intense pressure from Napoli, the guests managed to break free and in the 37th minute, the Argentinian Paulo Dybala had slightly raised his gaze towards the “goal”.
The capital’s big chance in the first period came in stoppage time, with Alex Merrett denying Spinazzola’s 1-1 (45+3): a stunning save.
Meret himself who had a 12th-minute clash with Kim Min-Jae, the South Korean centre-back who sent the ball back when his keeper had also gone for a move: luckily it went wide of the post as there wasn’t an own goal for Asian…
In the second half, even before Spalletti had Mario Rui sent off (he was replaced by Olivera in the 69th minute), ‘Sao’ Patricio returned to perform at a very high level denying Napoli and Lozano 2-0, with the defense of the night (63′), in response to Alex Merrett who prevented 1-1, with Cristante’s header (62′).
That latest move from the former Benfica midfielder – as well as Matic… and Belgian goalkeeper Svilar, who remained on the substitutes’ bench for the visitors – was a reflection of Roma’s much quicker pace in the second half, in which he Mourinho. Spinazzola and sent El Shaarawy to the meeting, and those from the capital came in a different mood and pace to discuss the meeting.
“Pharaoh” El Saraoui was Mourinho’s bet: in the 75th minute, he converted Zalewski’s second wide post, from the right, with no chance for Meret, and scored the equalizer (1-1), then already more from justified by the “yalorosi”.
If a draw was accepted as the fairest result, Simeone had no such idea and, with his ‘left hand’, fired a strange and well-timed shot from outside the area in the 86th minute, stretching Rui Patricio. fruitless, and gave victory for the home side, despite Roma’s big second-half response. And the game ended with Rui Patricio going up in the Neapolitan area, on a corner in favor of Roma, to try his luck, but without success.
Recall the events of the match below and see, in the attached tweets, the three goals of the match:
What draw from Osimhen ??#sporttvportugal #SERIEAnaSPORTTV #Naples #ASRome pic.twitter.com/K0LeY3a8cO
— SPORT TV (@SPORTTVPortugal) January 29, 2023
El Sarawi!!!! ?????pic.twitter.com/MAvsZrsYzU
— GonçaloDias17 (@goncalo_diass17) January 29, 2023
Cholito Simeone!! ??pic.twitter.com/Y3bCZ76nCI
— GonçaloDias17 (@goncalo_diass17) January 29, 2023
