Roma v Napoli, Getty Images November 30, 2025, 11:51 p.m

The Italian Serie A seems too difficult to watch for many fans this season, but the championship race in this championship is all about winning in the end. As of the end of the thirteenth round, we have an extremely tight group of teams at the top of the tournament table, where the distance from first to seventh place is only five points, and the weekend started with Roma leading the same table.

In the meantime, behind Gian Piero Gasperini’s team, in particular, the reigning champion of the country, Napoli, actively wants to protect this status, but with the UEFA Champions League on the schedule, it will be much more difficult than winning the races last season, and obviously, no one will refuse international competitions. That’s why “Partenopeia” had to meet at Stadio Olimpico after the game against Azerbaijani Karabakh, thank God that it was at home, and Roma, accordingly, after hosting Danish Midtjyllan in the Europa League.

You’d never guess it, but once again we saw classic Italian football of the current season, with all the attendant implications of that characteristic. The spectacle in the first half was, to put it mildly, amateurish. Everything is too slow ahead for both teams and only one real scoring opportunity in the opening half hour of playing time. In the ninth minute, Goilunn unsuccessfully tried to cross Svilar from the rebound when the goalkeeper intercepted a throw to Langu outside the penalty area.

At the same time, Roma didn’t show us anything in the attack in the first half, while the opponents had one more chance – a goal. At the 36th minute, Neres himself started the counterattack with a pass to the right wing for Goilunn, after which his partner returned the ball to the Brazilian already in the area in front of the penalty area, and in a moment Napoli was already leading by the score on the scoreboard. And this was a scenario Romy had to avoid at all costs.

Because what happened next was also a completely expected course of events. Napoli so openly tried to dry up the game in the second half that one could only wonder at the endurance of the spectators in the stands, who still tried to keep the “wolves” in focus, so that, in case of anything, they could immediately join the fight at the slightest opportunity. And such opportunities eventually arose at the end of the meeting.

Gasperini’s team had two chances to beat Vanya with kicks from the zone before someone else’s free kick. They ended up not using any of them. First, Pellegrini hit the ball above the goal, and then the goalkeeper actually took a shot from Baldanzi under the right post, thanks to which, as it turned out, in eight minutes, his team won the “dry” match.

Naples: Milinkovic-Savic — Beukema, Rrachmani, Buongiorno — Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, McTominay, Olivera — Neres (Lucca, 85), Goilunn (Elmas, 80), Lang (Politano, 69).

Warnings: Cristante, Ndika, Baldantsi — Lobotka, Beukema