MILAN (AP) — Napoli missed the chance to go top of Serie A ahead of the highly anticipated clash between league leader Inter Milan and title rival Atalanta later Sunday.
Napoli could only draw 0-0 at relegation-threatened Venezia and moved level on points with Inter but behind the defending champion on goal difference.
The first tiebreaker in Serie A is head-to-head, but Inter and Napoli have drawn both the matches between them 1-1.
Third-placed Atalanta is three points further back and all three sides could end the weekend level if Gian Piero Gasperini’s side beats Inter in Bergamo later.
Napoli almost got off to the perfect start in Venice but Giacomo Raspadori’s effort came off the left post in the fourth minute.
Venezia also had plenty of chances, with their best coming three minutes from the break. Alex Meret did well to parry from Kike Pérez and Daniel Fila’s follow-up was cleared off the line by Napoli defender Amir Rrahmani.
Napoli went even closer on the stroke of halftime but Ionut Radu pulled off a superb save to grasp Romelu Lukaku’s header on the goalline.
It was a fourth straight draw for Venezia — with two of those coming against Atalanta and Lazio — but it remained in penultimate position in the standings, five points from safety.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Daniella Matar, The Associated Press
