After a tight victory over Inter, which had won seven games in a row, involving a contentious penalty and a serious injury to Kevin De Bruyne, Napoli climbed back to the top of the standings and reclaimed their position as best team in the league.
After Nicolò Barella had intercepted a pass from Leonardo Spinazzola, Alessandro Bastoni headed a corner just wide and Hakan Calhanoglu twisted his shot beyond the post in the first few minutes of the game. Vanja Milinkovic-Savic then ran out to deny Lautaro Martinez a one-on-one opportunity and saved Napoli.
A few seconds after Giovanni Di Lorenzo went over between a nudge from Henrikh Mkhitaryan and a sliding shove from Francesco Acerbi, the referee directed to the spot. This occurred during a period of pressure that Napoli was applying. Despite the fact that it was a call made by the assistant referee, the video assistant referee did not deem it to be a clear and apparent error. Due to the fact that Mkhitaryan sustained an injury during the process, he was replaced by Piotr Zielinski, a former Napoli midfielder.
After stepping up and converting into the near bottom corner, Kevin De Bruyne instantly grasped the back of his right thigh and appeared to be in a state of distress. It appeared like he had suffered a hamstring injury. With his right foot barely able to be planted on the ground, the Belgian shuffled off, adding another injury to the already full treatment room at Napoli.
Inter was presented with a significant opportunity to equalize the score on a corner kick; however, Alessandro Bastoni’s free header hit the crossbar, and Milinkovic-Savic was already well beaten.
There was a double opportunity when Milinkovic-Savic just parried the Calhanoglu strike, and then Dumfries pulled back from the right side, setting up Lautaro Martinez to sweep first time, scraping a coat of paint off the far post. Both of these events occurred simultaneously.
A few moments later, Dumfries managed to go even closer, and his header on a cross from Bastoni ended up hitting the outside of the upright.
Immediately following the restart, Calhanoglu attempted to score a goal from the edge of the penalty area; however, Inter was in the process of advancing in search of an equalizer when they were caught on the counterattack. McTominay was able to spring the offside trap in the center circle thanks to a feed from Leonardo Spinazzola. He then ran forward and allowed the ball to bounce before hitting the fierce right-foot half-volley into the far bottom corner of the goal.
Alessandro Buongiorno was detected by the video assistant referee (VAR) with his arm up to charge down the header that Lautaro Martinez had made, and Calhanoglu was able to defeat Milinkovic-Savic, a specialist, from the penalty spot. This allowed Inter to get back into the game.
The conflict escalated when Dumfries and the Napoli bench started a fight on the touchline, which led to some aggressive hand gestures between Lautaro Martinez and Antonio Conte. The incident was the catalyst for the escalation of the atmosphere.
After a throw-in was pushed down, Napoli scored again on the counterattack. Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa sprinted from the middle of the field, evading Manuel Akanji and Dumfries, and he finished the play by shooting it past Sommer.
During the counterattack, David Neres had the opportunity to add a fourth goal, but he delayed for an excessive amount of time, had his finish charged down, and subsequently fought with cramping. During the stoppages, Francesco Pio Esposito indicated with a nod that an Akanji cross was over the bar.
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