Serie A: McTominay brace helps Napoli salvage draw against Inter; Conte was expelled for dissent

Scott McTominay scored a double as defending champions Napoli twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw against Serie A leaders Inter Milan at San Siro on Sunday.

Inter came close to revenge for the 1-3 defeat in Naples earlier this season and a win would have created a big gap at the top.

But Napoli’s never-say-die attitude kept Napoli strong in the title race.

Inter moved to 43 points, three ahead of second-place AC Milan, who drew 1-1 with Fiorentina earlier on Sunday, while Napoli are third in the standings with 39 points.

«We played a solid match and stayed focused,» Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo told reporters. “We are happy with this draw because it came after we were behind twice.”

After some early pressure from Napoli, Inter took the lead in the ninth minute after the visiting side lost possession in the center of the pitch.

Marcus Thuram drove forward before passing to Federico Dimarco in the area, who drilled his low shot from a wide angle into the far corner.

Inter started pressing high up the pitch, with Napoli struggling to get out of their own half for a long time, but out of nowhere the away side leveled in the 26th minute.

Leonardo Spinazzola’s pass sent Eljif Elmas into the area and his low cross into the six-yard box was met by McTominay, who got ahead of his marker, Manuel Akanji, at the near post and fired past Yann Sommer.

Shortly before half-time, Thuram had a header knocked over by Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and the teams were level at half-time.

“We started well, but were a bit too timid after the goal, but we got back into it and the second half will be very intense,” Elmas told DAZN at half-time.

MCTOMINAY TO THE RESCUE AGAIN

Napoli had chances after the break, with Milinkovic-Savic’s long ball sending Rasmus Hojlund through the goal, but his shot went narrowly wide and Di Lorenzo headed wide of the goal from a Spinazzola cross.

The visiting side spoiled the misses as Inter were awarded a penalty for Amir Rrahmani’s foul on Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with Napoli boss Antonio Conte shown a red card for his angry reaction to the referee’s decision.

«I don’t comment on the referee’s work,» said Di Lorenzo. “The team stayed in the match and was rewarded with a draw.”

Hakan Calhanoglu blasted home his penalty from the post and Inter regained the lead with 17 minutes remaining. However, Napoli refused to bow and it was McTominay who equalized again with nine minutes to go.

Matteo Politano’s floating cross into the penalty area appeared to go out of play, but Noa Lang hooked the ball back from the byline for McTominay to volley in from the edge of the box.

Mkhitaryan had an extra-time deflected shot coming back from the post to deny Inter a seventh successive league win.

Published on January 12, 2026