Inter Milan were held to a draw by reigning champions Napoli at the San Siro after a late Juan Jesus goal.
Inter Milan’s surge towards the Scudetto for the second time in four years experienced a slight stumble as a late header from Juan Jesus cancelled out Darmian’s first-half opener.
Last week, both teams crashed out of the Champions League, both losing to Spanish teams, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, respectively. However, it only meant either side had to prepare for a more demanding contest in the Serie A when they would meet on Sunday.
Inter had broken the deadlock on the stroke of half-time with a well-worked move that started from Yann Sommer, then moved with a series of passes from right to left, before Alessandro Bastoni rolled a cross for Matteo Darmian to sweep home from 10 yards, aided by a deflection off Mathias Olivera.
The game continued after the break in another fine fashion as both sides hoped to see out a point before the final whistle.
Meret made another save on Lautaro Martinez following his combination with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, then got behind a ferocious Dimarco free kick.
Napoli began to pour forward and earn a series of corner kicks, while Juan Jesus also crucially charged down the Nicolò Barella effort from close range.
Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa shinned over from a promising position and Giovanni Simeone’s header was straight at Sommer, but Napoli equalised when Inter gifted a corner with errors playing out from the back. Darmian was adamant he had not touched the ball last, but the corner was given.
That proved costly, as Politano’s corner was flicked on by Bastoni and Juan Jesus was unmarked to simply steer it in at the back post undisturbed.
Napoli’s leading scorer Victor Osimhen, spent the full 90 minutes on the bench and watched his team struggle to threaten in the first half.
The Nerazzurri remains at the top of the Italian top-division table with 76 points and 14-points ahead of second-place AC Milan, while Napoli is seventh with 45 points.
