Napoli defeated Roma 1-0 at the San Paolo on Sunday night in Serie A.
The Azzurri shortened the gap between them and the Giallorossi in the race for automatic Champions League qualification with a late goal from Jose Callejon sealing victory.
Despite a fantastic atmosphere in Naples the match failed to meet the fans’ excitement, with the points on offer vital to automatic Champions League qualification both coaches took seemingly cautious approaches, hoping to catch their counterparts on the counter-attack.
With neither side able to find their rhythm early on the visitors were then dealt an early blow when Kevin Strootman appeared to twist his left knee while avoided the attention of two Partenopei players, and with Daniele De Rossi serving the first match of his suspension on came veteran Rodrigo Taddei.
Yet midway through the first half it was the Romans who treated the crowd to first worthwhile attempt on goal when Faouzi Ghoulam sent a poor clearing header straight into the path of Radja Nainggolan who struck a rocket of a volley first time straight at Pepe Reina.
Just minutes later the Giallorossi thought they had taken the lead when captain Mehdi Benatia headed in a wonderful Alessandro Florenzi delivery from a freekick wide on the left, but a number of players were correctly adjudged to have been offside.
Most of the action came as the half drew to a close, first an excellent behind Federico Fernandez found Gervinho, but after side-stepping the defender took too long to unleash a shot and was quickly smothered with Reina quickly off his line.
On 43 minutes it was the Ivorian involved once more, holding the ball up on the right wing and laying off for Michel Bastos on the edge of the box to cut across the ball perfectly only for his impressive strike to be matched by Reina tipping over.
Despite having the better of the attacking chances in the first 45 it was the Azzurri who then had the last chance of the half as Dries Mertens found space behind right-back Maicon cut inside onto his favoured right foot only to see his curling effort palmed away by Morgan De Sanctis.
Seven minutes into the second period Napoli should have really taken the lead when Blerim Dzemaili sent Callejon through on goal, but the Spaniard lost the battle of wills with De Sanctis who saved low with his legs.
Seconds later the ball made its way back into the Giallorossi box and the awaiting Gonzalo Higuain only for the Argentinean to uncharacteristically blast over the crossbar from just over six yards out.
With time running out for Napoli to clinch victory the home crowd finally had reason to erupt into a frenzy as Callejon feigned a run across the box only to intelligently pull to the back post where he directed a header past De Sanctis after an excellent delivery from Ghoulam.
With just three points all that is separating the two sides now, despite Roma having a game in hand, coach Rafael Benitez will hope that the win will give his players some added confidence going into the final stage of the season to overtake the Giallorossi.
Follow Kevin Pogorzelski on Twitter: @rabbitrabbiton
