Napoli drew 0-0 with Udinese at the Stadio Friuli in Serie A action Monday evening.
The visitors saw the majority of the ball throughout the 90 minutes, but struggled to break down the pack defence of their adversaries and thus had to settle for a single point on the road.
The hosts claimed the first chance of the day, as Giovanni Pasquale fired wide of the near post after bringing down a lofted ball from Antonio Di Natale.
At the other end Giandomenico Mesto broke down the right flank to send a sumptuous cross into the penalty area, but Edinson Cavani and Lorenzo Insigne were each unable to connect by mere inches just six yards from goal.
Gokhan Inler and Cavani both went for glory from distance, but similarly found only the stands in blasting over the bar.
Roberto Pereyra and Inler were booked, whilst Mehdi Benatia was forced to come off on the half hour mark due to injury and was replaced by Thomas Heurtaux.
A fantastic long ball from Miguel Britos found former Zebrette man Pablo Armero streaking down the left side for the Colmbian to to cross into the box, but Daniele Padelli did well to parry Marek Hamsik’s bounding header past the upright.
Di Natale saw his free-kick blocked away by the wall, then soon after failed to hit the target with a chipped attempt after leaving Britos and Paolo Cannavaro for dead with an inspired run.
After the halftime restart Udinese came flying forward on the counter, with Pereyra smashing over the bar on the half-volley from Di Natale’s deflected shot.
Some lovely interplay from the Partenopei saw Insigne set up Hamsik for a volley from the heart of the area, but the Slovakian went wide of the mark with his weaker left foot.
The diminutive Italian soon menaced the opposition defence once again, skipping past a pair of black and white shirts only to have his shot ultimately blocked away.
Walter Mazzarri introduced Goran Pandev on 62 minutes for Inler as the Partenopei continued to search for the opener.
Armero was booked for simulation, whilst Cavani agonizingly missed at full stretch only five yards from goal under pressure from Danilo.
Di Natale made way for Maicosuel on 78 minutes as the Zebrette seemed content to defend deeply and absorb pressure, with Blerim Dzemaili coming on minutes later for the Partenopei.
Luis Muriel used a combination of pace and power to elude his defender and fire in on goal from distance, but failed to hit the target.
Juan Zuniga was a late introduction for Napoli, but neither side could find a breakthrough in the waning moments of the match as the squads split the points on the day.
You can follow Ian Capasso on Twitter: @capasso10
