Napoli's hopes of securing the Serie A title on Sunday were put on ice after being held to a 0-0 draw at Parma.
2024/2025 Serie A
0-0
Match Report
Inter drew 2-2 with Lazio, leaving the title race to be decided on the final day of the season next weekend, with Napoli only needing to match Inter's result in order to clinch the Scudetto as they currently hold a one-point advantage.
While Alex Meret had to make a sharp save to keep out Simon Sohm, Napoli responded brilliantly as Frank Anguissa volleyed a powerful effort off the base of the right post.
Sohm caused more problems for Meret, who made another fine fingertip stop, shortly after the restart, before Napoli upped the pressure once more.
Matteo Politano almost caught Zion Suzuki out as his cross smacked the bar, before Scott McTominay saw a curling free-kick superbly tipped onto the goal frame by the goalkeeper in the 70th minute.
Chivu and Antonio Conte were then both sent off at the start of stoppage time for dissent, to start the drama. The most thrilling moment came deep in stoppage time as David Neres was brought down by Mathias Lovik, with the referee initially awarding a penalty before it was overturned following a lengthy VAR review.
Napoli will host Cagliari while Inter will travel to in-form Como in the title-deciding final round next Sunday.
E TU NON DEVI MOLLARE! pic.twitter.com/1t797okLzM
— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) May 18, 2025
Data Debrief: A chance missed
With Inter also drawing, this could have been the match that steered the Scudetto race in Napoli's favour, but instead, they faltered on the road once more.
Napoli have won just two of their last eight away games in Serie A (D5 L1), after five consecutive away wins beforehand.
And they certainly had their chances to win it. They hit the woodwork three times on Sunday, the first time they have done so since April 2019 at Frosinone (a 2-0 win).
Overall, they created just 0.38 expected goals (xG), managing to get only two of their seven shots on target.
Line-ups
Parma XI: Hernani, Emanuele Valeri, Zion Suzuki, Enrico Delprato, Simon Sohm, Botond Balogh, Ange-Yoan Bonny, Mandela Keita, Alessandro Circati, Mateo Pellegrino, Giovanni Leoni
Subs: Milan Djuric, Richard Marcone, Nahuel Estévez, Pontus Almqvist, Adrian Benedyczak, Bernabe, Alessandro Vogliacco, Drissa Camara, Jacob Ondrejka, Edoardo Corvi, Mathias Løvik, Antoine Hainaut, Anas Haj Mohamed, Nicolas Trabucchi, Elia Plicco
Napoli XI: Lukaku, Spinazzola, Di Lorenzo, Politano, Rrahmani, Meret, Anguissa, M.Olivera, Giacomo Raspadori, McTominay, Gilmour
Subs: Simone Scuffet, G.Simeone, Nikita Contini, Pasquale Mazzocchi, Billing, Neres, Cyril Ngonge, Rafa Marín, Luis Hasa