There were tears in the crowd
There was a sense of dread the the San Paolo tonight as Napoli suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Roma. Napoli still have eleven matches to play before the end of the season, during which time a lot can change, but tonight any dropped points could be costly, and they know that.
For all the beautiful football Napoli have played this season, they had to get a result tonight to maintain their lead in the title race. They failed to step up when it really mattered and now only lead Juventus by a single point, but Juve have a game in hand. Napoli are now relying on Juventus to drop points if they are to have any chance of winning their first league title since the days of Maradona.
Lorenzo Insigne opened the scoring for the home side after just six minutes, but before the half hour mark Roma were 1-2 up. They contained Napoli well, limiting their chances to hopeful in-swinging shot-cum-crosses from Insigne.
Roma extended their lead to 4-1 before 80 minutes, with this peach from Edin Džeko the pick of the bunch.
A HUGE dent in Napoli's title hopes 😳
What a way to get your 50th Serie A goal Edin Dzeko, look at that placement 👌 pic.twitter.com/k43kvhkUOo
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 3, 2018
Dries Mertens scored a consolation goal in the 90th minute, and it was a bullet of a strike from just outside Allison’s penalty area, but it was too little too late.
Barring a miracle, Napoli may have just handed Juventus their seventh consecutive Scudetto.
