Despite a dominant performance, highlighted by Romina Pinna’s fourth of the season, Napoli CF only manage a draw against Hellas Verona.
Lineup
Dimitri Lipoff made one change to the squad he fielded in the Napoli’s 4-2 victory over Brescia. After sitting our the previous five matches, Matilde Copetti returned to start in goal over Sabrina Tasselli.
Pre-Match
Both sides wore “Keep Out, Respect” patches on the sleeves of their shirts in honour of International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which was celebrated on Friday, the 25th of November.
Match
Despite being the visitors, Napoli had a clear plan to be the protagonists, imposing their game on Hellas Verona. The positive approach paid dividends early in the match.
In the fourth minute, Adriana Gomes was fouled by Verona defender Bianca Vergani in the area and Napoli were awarded a penalty kick. Romina Pinna stepped up and smashed the ball straight down the middle of the goal, scoring her fourth of the season. Pinna continued her fine form, scoring three goals in her last four matches.
The Italian forward thought she scored her second of the match seven minutes later. Giulia Ferrandi picked out Pinna’s run with a ball over the top and she lobbed the keeper from the edge of the area. However, the goal was disallowed for offside.
Napoli continued to push forward, with Sara Tui pressing and forcing a turnover in the Verona half. Gomes teed up Claudia Mauri, but the midfielder’s low effort from outside the area was straight at Verona keeper Margot Shore.
Gomes had her chances as well. In the 35th minute, Copetti played a long ball forward, which Gomes flicked onward. Pinna pressured defender Sofia Meneghini and came up with the ball in the Verona area. Pinna cut the ball back to Gomes, but her first-time hit narrowly missed the bottom corner.
Gomes came close again a minute later from a devastating counter-attack. Sara Tamborini slipped the ball through to the striker, who dribbled past Shore before missing the empty goal. However, Gomes was ruled offside, so had she scored, the goal would not have counted.
Though Napoli did not create many quality chances in the second half, the Partenopee continued to control the run of play. Napoli’s best chance of the half came just after the hour mark, when Sara Tui received the long ball from Aurora De Sanctis and picked out Pinna in the area. Pinna could have gone for the right side of the goal but instead elected for the toe punt and missed the top corner.
The wasted opportunities proved to be costly. In the 72nd minute, Verona converted their first chance of the match. After collecting the loose ball on the right side of the area, Midfielder Alice Giai played Alessia Pecchini on the overlap. Pecchini played a first-time cross into the area, where Giulia Bison was left completely unmarked. The striker made no mistake with her header, picking the top corner to level the score at one.
The goal shifted the momentum in favour of Verona, who were the more positive side for the balance of the match, which ended 1-1. With Lazio’s 3-0 victory over Cittadella, Napoli remained second in the table, now five points behind the Biancocelesti.
The Femminile will be back in action on the 4th of December. The Partenopee host Genoa, who are currently 133th in the table.
Post-Match
Melissa Nozzi addressed the media after the match.
“Unfortunately it happens that when the games are not closed then the classic joke arrives. We played a great first half and also had several chances in the second half, even a bit of luck was lacking. We are second by only five points from Lazio and we want to arrive in the best conditions for the direct clash on December 18th, which is why we will have to do our best in the next two races”
