A disappointing Napoli performance did not stop them picking up an important pont at home to Bayern Munich as a Holger Badstuber own goal rescued a point for the home side after Toni Kroos had put Bayern ahead.
The visitors should have secured all three points though but a missed Mario Gomez penalty leaves Napoli in second place at the end of proceedings.
Napoli: De Sanctis; Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica; Maggio, Gargano, Inler (Santana 89), Zuniga; Hamsik (Mascara 91), Lavezzi; Cavani (Dzemaili 81)
Bayern Munich: Neuer; Boateng, Van Buyten, Badstuber, Lahm; Tymoshchuk, Schweinsteiger; T Muller, Kroos, Ribery (Alaba 90); Gomez (Gustavo 92)
The home side got off to the worst possible start in Naples when, with just two minutes on the clock, Bayern youngster Toni Kroos found a massive gap at the heart of the Napoli defence and moved straight in on goal unchallenged before coolly slotting the ball into the corner to leave the San Paolo stunned.
Bayern were growing in confidence throughout after their early goal and Mario Gomez showed how confident the side were when he tried a wonderful curling effort from 30 yards with 20 minutes on the clock which zipped just wide of Morgan De Sanctis’ goal. Napoli struggled to assert their dominance and hold on to the ball long enough to dictate the tempo and play with their usual pace and width.
This began to frustrate the Partenpoei who were clearly determined to put on a big show for their fans on a massive night for the club but they were continually resorted to giving away fouls to prevent the likes of Franck Ribery running at the defence with his trademark tricks and speed.
The game also began to turn decidedly nasty at this point with Bastian Schweinsteiger and Salvatore Aronica in particular continuing to niggle each other at each set piece. It was from a German set piece that Napoli almost found themselves two goals down when Jerome Boateng found himself unmarked at the back post but his side-footed effort was brilliantly tipped away by De Sanctis.
The home side continued to back their team with their usual noise and fervour and perhaps should have been given something more to cheer about 10 minutes before half time when a cross to the back post of the Bayern area seemed to be flicked away from the head of the onrushing Marek Hamsik by the arm of Bastian Schweinsteiger but referee Olegario Benquerenca waved away the Neapolitan appeals.
However, with half time quickly approaching Napoli did manage to finally force that bit of luck that looked to have been missing for them for much of the first half. Christian Maggio was released down the right flank and managed to leave Philip Lahm exposed before drilling a dangerous ball across goal that Bayern defender Holger Badstuber could only divert past goalkeeper Manuel Neuer for the first goal that they had conceded since early August.
Napoli would have been hoping to come out for the second half and signal their intent early on but a disgraceful decision from referee Benquerenca handed the visitors a perfect chance to restore their lead. A Mario Gomez strike from the edge of the area did strike the arm of Paolo Cannavaro who was yards away inside the area when he blocked the shot but there was nothing the Italian defender could do to avoid the contact.
The referee had other ideas though and pointed to the spot but justice was done when the tame penalty from Mario Gomez was easily saved and held by De Sanctis in the Napoli goal. The penalty miss appeared to snap Bayern into life and they continued to control the pace and possession at the start of the second half as they had in the first and Thomas Muller was guilty of missing a glorious chance when the ball fell to him inside the six yard box but he could only poke his effort wide.
The warning signs continued to come from Bayern who hassled and pressured the Napoli defence as the home side continued to frustrate the majority inside the San Paolo. Many of the Napoli players just could not seem to get out of first gear but eventually as the half wore on they began to warm to their task and push Bayern deeper into their own half as well as exploiting the wide areas with Maggio and Ezequiel Lavezzi seeing a lot of the ball but they continued to struggle to find the crucial final ball.
At the other end only a last ditch block from Paolo Cannavaro was enough to prevent Ribery from putting Bayern ahead after the Frenchman found himself in on goal. The game petered out until the finish from that point with Napoli failing to muster a final flourish and in the end they will have been quite disappointed with their performance.
The stats at the end of the game showed that Napoli had failed to trouble Neuer with a single shot on target and finished up with much less possession than the visitors. Both should never happen for a home side regardless of the opposition and this, more than the result, will have upset and frustrated boss Walter Mazzarri.
The result is by no means a disaster with Mazzarri’s men sitting in second at the moment but Napoli will be hoping that they can now go to Germany and pick up a result, something that is much easier said than done after Bayern’s assured performance this evening.
Follow Padraig Whelan on Twitter: @PWhelan88 and be sure to check out his blog here too.
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