Napoli snatch a draw in thrilling AC Milan clash

 

Napoli snatched a draw against AC Milan in the Serie A clash that produced thrilling performances from both teams.

Napoli welcomed a Milan team that had suffered losses against Juventus and PSG in the midweek Champions League.

But the visitors got in front through two fantastic headers from Olivier Giroud and seemed to be coasting to victory before two memorable moments from the host restored parity.

Milan has the points in the bag with an early Olivier Giroud brace of headers.

Napoli was short of top performance in the first half but came out with an aggressive performance that brought about magnificent pieces of skill from Matteo Politano and Giacomo Raspadori that snatched a 2-2 draw for them.

Both teams had met four times last season, and Milan won 4-0 here to eliminate the Serie A champions from the Champions League quarter-final.

The visitors broke the deadlock at the Diego Maradona stadium when Christian Pulisic whipped in a left-footed cross from the right, and Giroud timed the run to perfectly place a glancing header, beating Alex Meret, who couldn’t stop the ball from crossing the line with one hand safe. 

Maignan ran out of his line to make the tackle on Matteo Politano, and then Kvaratskhelia rolled across the face of the goal only for Politano to tap it onto the side netting.

Napoli got punished with this as the visitors doubled their lead through the Frenchman. Giroud again nodded in Davide Calabria’s cross from the right after holding off Amir Rahmani. 

Tijjani Reijnders had another opportunity to make it three but swept over the bar for the first time from the Theo Hernandez pull-back.

 Seeing that his lad failed to at h Milan’s intensity in the first half, Napoli coach Rudi Garcia made three changes at half-time, introducing Giovanni Simeone, Leo Ostigard and Mathias Olivera, while Pulisic went off with a muscular issue.

This paid off as Politano immediately reduced the deficit with a sensational solo effort. Thee winger flicked it over Pellegrino cut back inside Theo Hernandez before smashing it into the roof of the net from a tricky angle with his left foot.

Maignan, who seemed to be under pressure, fumbled another Di Lorenzo cross. Still, Napoli failed to make the most of Fikayo Tomori with a decisive header to prevent Simeone from scoring.

Napoli eventually completed the comeback with a marvelous Raspadori free kick. He curled the ball around the wall into the near post. 

Both sides continue the search for the winners with attacking football, as the result could have gone either way.

Napoli were reduced to 10 men as Natan received his second yellow card for going in late on Romero.

After Calabria missed the chance to win it deep into added time as his header went behind the net,  Napoli also failed to take their chance on the last kick of the game as Maignan used his legs to parry the Kvaratskhelia strike from close range.

Written by Oladipupo Mojeeed