Serie A

Football Italia

·17 February 2024

Serie A | Napoli 1-1 Genoa: Ngonge rescues a point

Cyril Ngonge struck late on to rescue a point for Napoli after the Morten Frendrup opener, as they are forced to share the spoils with Genoa.

Both sides were coming off a defeat, but the Partenopei were also preparing for the Champions League Round of 16 against Barcelona. Victor Osimhen was not even on the bench after AFCON duty, with Juan Jesus suspended, but Alex Meret, Natan and Mario Rui were all available again in a return to the 4-3-3 formation with debutant Hamed Junior Traore. Koni De Winter was back from his ban with Alan Matturro out for the season following surgery.

OneFootball Videos

In the opening 90 seconds, Giovanni Simeone horribly scuffed the finish on a Matteo Politano assist from six yards, while Meret on his comeback from injury struggled to get behind a Mateo Retegui header.

Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa stung Martinez’s gloves at the base of the near post with a scorcher from outside the area, but Meret was called into an even better save on another Retegui header.

Genoa took the lead at the dawn of the second half, as Junior Messias broke on the counter from midfield, set up Retegui blocked off by Natan, finding unmarked Morten Frendrup to sweep into the roof of the net from 14 yards.

Giovanni Di Lorenzo was booked and will be suspended against Cagliari, while Martinez took the sting out of a Traore snapshot.

There was a double Napoli opportunity, as Kvaratskhelia pulled back from the by-line and it went through Simeone’s legs, then Johan Vasquez threw himself in the way of the Matteo Politano follow-up.

Cyril Ngonge fired two efforts straight at Martinez from the edge of the area, while Anguissa’s towering header from a Kvaratskhelia corner skimmed the crossbar.

Martinez fingertipped a Kvaratskhelia daisy-cutter round the base of the far post from the edge of the box.

Napoli finally equalised in the final minute when Matias Olivera’s cross was nodded down by Di Lorenzo, Ngonge let it bounce and drilled into the far bottom corner on the turn from 12 yards with his left boot. It was technically his first goal for the club, as the one against Verona took a deflection and was considered an own goal.

The Partenopei wanted all three points and poured forward during stoppages, but Jesper Lindstrom fired a free kick into the wall. They were jeered off the pitch at the final whistle.