Fiorentina and Napoli drew 1-1 at the Stadio Franchi on Sunday afternoon. Both sides had their chances but both were unable to find the decisive breakthrough in a brilliant game.
Napoli narrowly defeated Bologna last weekend, winning 1-0 at home, ending a terrible three-game losing streak in all competitions. The Partenopei are therefore aiming to win back-to-back matches for the first time under Massimiliano Allegri.
However, Fiorentina dominated the first 20 minutes, with Paolo Vanoli’s side hitting the woodwork twice in less than 180 seconds. Napoli punished the Viola’s mistake in the 23rd minute, with Matteo Politano taking a perfect corner kick and Billy Gilmour volleying home to give the visitors a slim half-time lead.
Napoli could not have started the second half worse, with Bournemouth loanee Alex Jimenez equalizing in the 51st minute. The Spaniard’s goal spurred the visitors forward looking for a response but they could not find a way past David De Gea, who produced several fine saves to secure a point for Fiorentina.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at our Napoli ratings.
Napoli (4-2-3-1)
Vanja Milinkovic-Savic – 8/10
He may not have kept a clean sheet, but his superb saves on Nicolo Fagioli and Victor Valdepenas on the stroke of half-time kept Napoli in the game.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo – 7/10
Although it was difficult to provide much help in the attacking phase, the Napoli captain excelled in Aliu Njie’s fast pace and won almost every duel with the Fiorentina winger.
Amir Rahmani – 8/10
The Partenopei stalwart is cool and collected in possession and excels on the ball. What’s more, he fulfilled his deal with Matteo Pellegrino, keeping the Viola striker in his pocket.
Rafa Marin – 7/10
The first half was flawless and the Spaniard could have had a perfect game had Jimenez’s shot not deflected off his legs and Milinkovic-Savic’s foot misstepped.
Matias Oliveira – 6/10
The Uruguayan full-backs held off Fiorentina’s attacks for much of the afternoon with solid defending. However, his defensive orientation comes at the expense of his offensive contributions.
Billy Gilmore – 6/10
The goal was a fitting reward for an outstanding performance from the Scotland midfielder today. His diagonal passes to Noah Long and Politano often caught Fiorentina’s high backline off guard.
Stanislav Lobotka – 6/10
Despite being heavily involved in the build-up, the diminutive playmaker rarely takes any risks, delivering clean passes and not offering many cutting opportunities in the final third.
Matteo Politano – 6/10
Assisting Gilmour to open the scoring was perhaps the only reason Allegri kept him on the pitch for so long. He turns the ball away too often and is rarely able to beat his man.
Kevin De Bruyne – 4/10
This is not his day! The former Manchester City great had little impact on the game and was unable to find his trademark killer pass that has been the hallmark of his career.
Noah Long – 4/10
Another disappointing performance from the Dutch striker who did little to disrupt the Fiorentina defence.
Rasmus Hoylund – 3/10
The Danish striker was isolated from the rest of the team for most of his nearly 60 minutes on the pitch, never testing De Gea.
Substitute
Lorenzo Luca – 5/10
David Neres – 6/10
Constantin Favasuli – 7/10
Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa – N/A
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