MILAN: Scott McTominay kept Napoli in touch with Serie A leaders Inter Milan with a brace in Sunday’s entertaining 2-2 draw at the San Siro, after AC Milan were held to a 1-1 draw at Fiorentina. The Scotland midfielder twice equalized to make sure that the reigning champions would stay four points behind Inter, who seemed set to move five clear of second-placed Milan after taking the lead through Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty in the 73rd minute.
Instead Inter stay three points ahead of their local rivals, with Roma in fourth and level on 39 points with Napoli who were saved by a stellar performance from McTominay. Calhanoglu’s spot-kick, rattled in off the post past penalty specialist Vanja Milinkovic-Savic, seemed to be the decisive blow with Inter in the ascendency and Napoli livid. The awarding of the spot-kick, for Amir Rrahmani stepping on Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s foot, sent Antonio Conte into a wild rage on the touchline and he was sent off for his rant at officials in which he loudly called the decision “a disgrace”.
“I think we should move on and focus on the performance which was excellent, as was the reaction after conceding the penalty,” said assistant coach Cristian Stellini in place of Conte. “That gives a lot of faith to a team that tonight, at a tough ground against the league leaders, showed itself worthy of being called champions.”
But with nine minutes remaining McTominay, who in the first half cancelled out Federico Dimarco’s brilliant early opener, deftly volleyed home his fifth league goal of the season from Noa Lang’s hooked cross to give Napoli a deserved point.
For Inter it was another missed opportunity in a big match, with just one point collected from their four fixtures played against Napoli, Milan and fifth-placed Juve who face Cremonese on Monday. That is a worrying trend ahead of key Champions League clashes with Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund coming up later this month.
“We should have done better on both goals but you have to recognise the quality of the opposition because they have great players,” said Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni. “In any case I’m happy with what we’ve done in the first half of the season, because I remember what was said about us at the start of the year.”
Milan slip at Fiorentina
Christopher Nkunku lashed home Milan’s leveller in the 90th minute at the Stadio Artemio Franchi to deny Fiorentina just a third win of a troubled season. Fiorentina had looked set for the points after Pietro Comuzzo headed home the opener in the 66th minute, but Nkunku’s late strike left the Tuscans on 14 points in 18th place.
The hosts came close to nabbing all three points twice in stoppage time, with new signing Marco Brescianini hitting the bar from close range and Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan having to dive at the feet of Moise Kean to stop the Italy striker from netting the winner.
“We played well in the first half and created a lot of chances that we failed to convert,” said Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri to DAZN. “We’re second in the league and we need to keep it up, but we also need to be more clinical when we’re dominating play.”
Fiorentina are two points behind Genoa who sit just outside the relegation zone and host Cagliari on Monday evening. Paolo Vanoli’s team seem to have turned a corner with one defeat in their last five matches, and fans are back onside after long periods of protest at bad results and a lack of direction behind the scenes.
Supporters applauded Fiorentina off the field after a second match in succession in which they were pegged back late on, a last-gasp Pedro penalty costing them a win at Lazio on Wednesday. — AFP
