MILAN — The Serie A title race witnessed a missed opportunity for league leaders Napoli, who were held to a 1-1 draw against Udinese on Sunday.
Napoli had aimed to extend their lead over second-placed Inter Milan to six points, especially after Inter’s unexpected 3-0 defeat to Fiorentina in their midweek match.
Instead, Inter will have the chance to reduce the gap to just one point with a win on Monday against Fiorentina once more, following Napoli’s struggle to convert their chances into goals.
Udinese, on the other hand, collected a valuable point which marked a positive turn after breaking a five-match winless streak with a win against Venezia last week.
At the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Napoli squandered several clear opportunities.
Scott McTominay initially misfired from close range but quickly made amends, scoring with a header from a corner in the 37th minute to give Napoli the lead.
However, just three minutes later, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp capitalized on defensive errors by Napoli, striking a curving shot from outside the box that found the far corner, leveling the match.
This marked a second consecutive draw for Napoli, who also played to a 1-1 stalemate against Roma the previous weekend.
In another match, Lazio returned to form and reclaimed fourth place with a resounding 5-1 win over Monza, the league’s bottom team.
Despite controlling the game, Lazio only led 1-0 at halftime through a header from Adam Marusic.
The second half saw a goal avalanche, with Pedro scoring twice, while Taty Castellanos and Faruq Dele-Bashiru added to the tally.
Monza managed to score a late consolation goal with a penalty converted by Stefano Sensi, but they remain eight points adrift of safety.
This result pushed Lazio two points ahead of Juventus, who dropped to fifth place, leaving them ten points behind Napoli.
In a separate encounter, Paulo Dybala scored the decisive goal of his season, leading Roma to a narrow 1-0 victory over relegation-threatened Venezia.
Dybala scored from the penalty spot in the second half after teammate Angeliño was fouled in the box by Monza’s defender Alessandro Marcandalli.
Roma’s manager Claudio Ranieri had decided to rotate his squad in anticipation of their upcoming Europa League clash against Porto.
Following this match, Roma remained in ninth place in Serie A, while Venezia lingered near the bottom of the table, five points from safety.
Cagliari also boosted their hopes of avoiding relegation with a hard-fought 2-1 victory against fellow relegation battlers Parma, moving four points clear of the danger zone, while Parma remained in the bottom three.
