Napoli suffered a 1-0 defeat at Torino on Saturday, undone by a goal from former player Giovanni Simeone, as they laboured without injured duo Rasmus Højlund and Scott McTominay—both doubtful for the upcoming Champions League clash against PSV Eindhoven.
Simeone, who played a key role in Napoli’s 2023 Serie A triumph, struck in the 32nd minute of a tense contest in Turin, leaving Roma with a chance to move clear at the top of the table.
The 30-year-old also scored the winner in Torino’s 1-0 home victory over Roma in September and he took his third goal of the season brilliantly, capitalising on a fortunate ricochet to skip past Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Napoli goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic and shoot home.
Noa Lang thought he had snatched a point for champions Napoli in the third minute of stoppage time, wheeling away in delight after tapping home before his strike was ruled out for the Netherlands attacker straying offside.
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Roma host Inter Milan in Saturday’s late match and are level on 15 points with Napoli, who drop down to second by virtue of having played a game more.
Inter sit three points behind Roma and Napoli, meaning that Cristian Chivu’s team will be first on goal difference with a win in the Italian capital.
Napoli coach Antonio Conte had to do without in-form striker Hojlund and McTominay who were left out of the squad with respective thigh and ankle injuries suffered in training ahead of Saturday’s defeat.
Both are doubts for Tuesday’s clash at PSV, creating more injury problems for Conte who has already had to deal with a series of physical problems for his squad this season.
Hojlund, who has scored three times for Napoli and netted for Denmark last weekend, was only signed from Manchester United after Romelu Lukaku suffered a thigh injury which could keep the Belgium striker out until the new year.
Alessandro Buongiorno and Matteo Politano were only fit for a place on the bench while Stanislav Lobotka and Amir Rrahmani are still sidelined.
Hojlund would be a big absence for PSV as he scored both goals in Napoli’s 2-1 win over Sporting Lisbon earlier this month and Lorenzo Lucca did little up front on Saturday.
McTominay was Serie A’s player of the year and key to Napoli winning their fourth league title last season, but the Scotland midfielder has struggled to impose himself in the early weeks of this campaign following the arrival of Kevin De Bruyne.
