Udinese and Napoli each score one goal a piece as the match ended 1-1 at the Stadio Friuli.
A thundering Jose Callejon half volley was not enough for the Azzurri as Bruno Fernandes’ second half equalizer was enough to hold Napoli to a draw in Saturday Serie A action.
Napoli from the kick off pressed directly towards the Udinese goal, forcing a Giampiero Pinzi tackle on Faouzi Ghoulam which resulted in the Italian receiving a yellow card in the first 25 seconds of the encounter. After minutes of early pressure and possession from the Partenopei the home side finally settled and put together some attacking moves of their own. The first goal-scoring opportunity came from a Lorenzo Insigne free kick which was easily parried away by Simone Scuffet who got down well to his right to deny the Napoli forward.
Napoli put together some lovely moves approaching goal which continued to fall apart in the final third. The best chance for the home side came in the 31st minute when Gabriel Silva and Emmanuel Badu combined on the edge of the area. Silva’s cross found Badu unmarked in the Napoli area but his free header from six yards out failed to test the Spanish keeper, missing the goal completely.
Napoli finally broke the deadlock in the 39th minute from a throw launched into the area, flicked on by Duvan Zapata and hammered home on the half volley by an unmarked Callejon. Rafael Benitez’s men went into the break with a slender 1-0 lead.
The Partenopei continued to be the more threatening of the two sides until a horrible mistake by Pepe Reina cost them their one goal advantage. A lazy pass from the Spanish keeper in the 54th minute was intercepted in front of the penalty area by Pinzi. His pinpoint pass for Bruno Fernandes found the Portuguese with the easy task of beating Reina to equalize for the Zebrette. Udinese gained confidence from their goal and continued to put pressure on the Neapolitan defence.
Napoli had a penalty appeal waved away by the referee in the 70th minute when second half substitute Goran Pandev was seemingly hauled down by Maurizio Domizzi after a lovely pass by Insigne found the Macedonian with his back to goal inside the area.
Udinese thought they had grabbed the winner when Luis Muriel got behind the back line to beat Reina but the referees assistant had already flagged for the offside.
Silva took the ball to the Napoli back line in the 89th minute but was tackled just outside the penalty area by Argentine defender Federico Fernandez who earned his second yellow card and received his marching orders from the official. The resulting free kick was curled in wide of the back post just missing Dusan Basta.
Udinese continued to pressure Napoli who were down to ten men for the final few minutes and could not find the winner.
