Francesco Gioielli scored in the third minute of stoppage time as Napoli’s earned a valuavle point against Sampdoria on Sunday.
Lineup
Nicolò Frustalupi returned to his usual starting XI after rotating his entire squad for the Azzurrini’s midweek Coppa italia fixture.
(3-4-2-1) Boffelli; Obaretin, Hysaj, Barba; Acampa, Gioielli, Iaccarino, Lamine; Marranzino, Spavone; Rossi
Match
Sampdoria got off to a very strong start, creating two quality chances in the opening ten minutes. Both chances involved striker Simone Leonardi, who was easily the man of the match.
On the first, Leonardi played a diagonal ball to Niccolò Biancchi at the edge of the area. He made a clever turn to get past Lamine Gningue in the area, but Valerio Boffelli was quick off his line to make the save. Five minutes later, Nicolò Uberti played a similar ball to Leonardi at the edge of the area. He turned and shot, and though he missed the target, he didn’t miss by much.
Napoli responded well and created two quality chances in the final ten minutes of the half. The first occurred after Lamine won a free kick on the right side of the midfield. Gennaro Iaccarino played a deep ball toward Leonardo Rossi at the second post. He head the ball back into the area, where it fell to Daniel Hysaj. The defender had a free shot from the edge of the six yard box but launched the ball well over the bar.
The Azzurrini closed the half with a double chance for Antonio Spavone. First, Lamine played the trequartista into the area, but Uberti got just enough of the ball to deflect the shot into the outside of the goal. Napoli ran a set piece on the ensuring corner kick, with Pasquale Marranzino spotting Spavone outside the area. He took a touch before putting a powerful strike on target, but Sampdoria goalkeeper Elia Tantalocchi did well to tip the shot over the bar.
Leonardi continued to be the protagonist in the second half, coming close in the 53rd minute after flicking the ball past Hysaj. Five minutes later the forward was the catalyst for the first goal of the match. Samuli Miettinen played a long, looping ball over the top to Leonardi on the left wing. The striker carried the ball into the area and tested Boffelli. The Napoli keeper stopped the shot but the rebound spilled to Niccolò Bianchi in front of the goal and the right wing back rolled the ball into the bottom corner.
Leonardi nearly doubled Sampdoria’s lead from a similar action moments after the midway point of the second half. Once again he received the long long ball over the top and carried it into the area. This time he cut in to his right to get past Benedetto Barba and open up the shot. Leonardi had only Boffelli to beat but his shot from the spot sliced wide of the mark.
That proved to be a costly miss for Sampdoria. Things began to unravel for the Blucerchiati in the 86th minute, when Ardijan Chilafi got himself sent off. The striker retaliated to a foul by Iaccarino by putting his hand on the throat of the Napoli midfielder.
With the extra man, Napoli pushed forward for the equalizer. Though it seemed like Sampdoria might resist, the decisive moment arrived in the third minute of stoppage time. Substitute Lorenzo Russo crossed the ball into the area from the right wing. Francesco Gioielli rose up to win the header over Federico Savic and placed the shot off the upright and into the back of the goal. Three minutes after Gioielli scored his fourth goal of the Primavera 1 campaign, the match official blew the final whistle.
With the draw, Napoli remained outside of the relegation playoff zone, but dropped a position after Atalanta’s 2-0 upset over third-placed Sassuolo. Meanwhile, Inter pulled within one point of Napoli with their 2-1 victory over Udinese.
The Primavera 1 will now pause for the international break and return in January, when Napoli travel to Milano to take on AC Milan U19.
