Draw at Napoli was yet more evidence that the manager’s bond with his players has improved results immeasurably
As the curtain came down on Napoli’s 1-1 draw with Roma, Lorenzo Insigne turned and booted a water bottle back toward his bench. His body language spoke less of rage than resignation. The player’s hopes of leaving his boyhood club with a Serie A title as a parting gift had already dimmed with defeat to Fiorentina in the previous round.
Still, this was a day that could have belonged to him. Insigne’s well-taken penalty put Napoli ahead for 80 minutes. A win would at least have kept them in touching distance of the summit. Instead, someone else had taken hold of the narrative. Not Stephan El Shaarawy, who scored the injury-time equaliser – firing past Alex Meret at the end of a scintillating move, in which nine Roma players touched the ball and the last five only once each – but an inevitable José Mourinho.
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