Following Inter’s win earlier in the evening, the onus was on Napoli to restore their advantage in the race for the Scudetto.
2024/2025 Serie A
2-2
Match Report
Napoli's Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday as they were held to a 2-2 draw against Genoa at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Antonio Conte's team knew a win was needed after second-placed Inter beat Torino earlier in the day, but Napoli were unable to get the job done at home.
Napoli started strongly in the contest, with Matteo Politano's curling strike evading the far post before Scott McTominay's audacious bicycle kick cleared the crossbar.
But the hosts went ahead in the 15th minute when Romelu Lukaku collected McTominay's ball in behind the Genoa defence before finishing past Benjamin Siegrist.
However, Genoa responded impressively from going a goal behind and almost levelled through Andrea Pinamonti, but his looping header could only find the crossbar.
Their pressure told in the 32nd minute when Junior Messias' cross was headed onto the post by Honest Ahanor, with Alex Meret's trailing leg taking the ball over the line.
Napoli continued to dominate the game after the break, with Giacomo Raspadori, McTominay and Frank Anguissa seeing efforts saved by visiting goalkeeper Siegrist.
Raspadori, however, was not to be denied a goal as he fired Napoli back in front in the 62nd minute, racing onto McTominay's pass before rifling home at the near post.
But there was to be one final twist with six minutes remaining as Aaron Martin's teasing delivery into the box was headed past Meret by Johan Vasquez.
Napoli were unable to find a winner and are now only a point clear of Champions League finalists Inter with two games remaining in their respective seasons.
Data Debrief: Napoli crumble on Vasquez's landmark Genoa outing
Napoli knew the significance of a victory today, but they are still favoured to win the Scudetto, winning 71.8% of the Opta supercomputer's data-led simulations.
However, they will be disappointed at not being able to put the game to bed, having registered an expected goals (xG) total of 1.75 from their 22 shots.
Indeed, the result saw Napoli concede two goals in a home Serie A match for the first time since last November, when they lost 3-0 to Atalanta, while this was also their first draw on home soil since consecutive stalemates against Inter and Udinese between February and March.
But on what was his 100th Serie A appearance for Genoa, Vasquez's equaliser stole the show. He has now scored three goals in 35 appearances in the league this season, as many as he had in his previous three top-flight campaigns combined (three in 90 matches).
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
9' Match Event for Napoli vs Genoa
13' Highlight from Napoli vs Genoa
15' GOAL! Napoli 1-0 Genoa (Romelu Lukaku)
24' Match Event for Napoli vs Genoa
30' Match Event for Napoli vs Genoa
32' GOAL! Napoli 1-1 Genoa (Alex Meret)
55' Highlight from Napoli vs Genoa
64' GOAL! Napoli 2-1 Genoa (Giacomo Raspadori)
82' Highlight from Napoli vs Genoa
84' GOAL! Napoli 2-2 Genoa (Johan Vásquez)
93' Match Event for Napoli vs Genoa
Line-ups
Napoli XI: Lukaku, Spinazzola, Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, Politano, Rrahmani, Meret, Anguissa, M.Olivera, Giacomo Raspadori, McTominay
Subs: Simone Scuffet, G.Simeone, Nikita Contini, Pasquale Mazzocchi, Billing, Neres, Okafor, Cyril Ngonge, Gilmour, Rafa Marín, Luis Hasa
Genoa XI: Benjamin Siegrist, Stefano Sabelli, Pinamonti, Junior Messias, Johan Vásquez, Morten Frendrup, Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Vitinha, Patrizio Masini, Sebastian Otoa, Honest Ahanor
Subs: Badelj, Nicola Leali, Bani, A.Martín, Daniele Sommariva, Alessandro Zanoli, Jean Onana, Koni De Winter, Lior Kassa, Jeff Ekhator, Lorenzo Venturino