Serie A | Como 0-0 Napoli: Cesc and Conte share new stalemate
Como were denied by a goal-line clearance and Matteo Politano hit the woodwork for Napoli, as Cesc Fabregas and Antonio Conte share the spoils.
This was joint fifth against second with the race for a Champions League spot still open. Nico Paz, Mergim Vojvoda and Sergi Roberto shook off knocks, leaving only Jayden Addai on the treatment table. Giovanni Di Lorenzo was back on the bench for the first time three months after a knee injury, with Mathias Olivera, Juan Jesus, David Neres, Antonio Vergara and Romelu Lukaku still out of action. Cesc Fabregas and his former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte were reunited on the touchline, after knocking Napoli out of the Coppa Italia quarter-final on penalties.
See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.
Tasos Douvikas should’ve scored after eight minutes when springing the offside trap on a Nico Paz pass and dribbling around Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, but the goalkeeper managed to slow him down enough to allow Amir Rrahmani to get back for the decisive goal-line clearance.
Martin Baturina bent his finish wide of the far post, while Milinkovic-Savic rushed off his line to deny Assane Diao when sent through by a smart Nico Paz counter-attack.
A Nico Paz free kick also went over the bar, then Jacobo Ramon just failed to connect from four yards on a flicked-on corner.
After the restart, Rasmus Hojlund’s penalty appeals were rejected as he was offside anyway, and Diao failed to keep his header down at the back post.
Milinkovic-Savic was almost wrong-footed by a deflection on Baturina’s half-turn, but managed to scramble across for the one-handed save.
Scott McTominay had a great chance on 79 minutes when sprinting onto the pass from the left, but he drilled the finish just wide of the near post with only Jean Butez to beat.
Matteo Politano tackled Jesus Rodriguez inside the penalty area cleanly and then went on the counter, moments later his left-foot curler from outside the box smacking against the far post for Napoli.
Just like earlier this season in Serie A at the Stadio Maradona, it ended goalless.