Serie A | Napoli 2-2 Genoa: Double fumble blows title race wide open

Napoli twice fumbled a lead to draw 2-2 with Genoa after Romelu Lukaku and Giacomo Raspadori goals, so their lead at the top from Inter is sliced to just a single point.

The Partenopei felt they were on the verge of triumph, especially as they already knew Inter’s result away to Torino before taking to the field here. Alessandro Buongiorno and Juan Jesus were still out of action, with David Neres only fit for the bench, but Stanislav Lobotka grit his teeth to start despite an ankle sprain. Matias Olivera was again preferred to Rafa Marin as a makeshift central defender. Genoa lost three on the bounce, missing Ruslan Malinovskyi, Fabio Miretti, Mario Balotelli, Maxwel Cornet, Caleb Ekuban, Alan Matturro and suspended Morten Thorsby, giving Benjamin Siegrist his Serie A debut.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Matteo Politano bent a left-foot finish just wide from the edge of the area, while an acrobatic Scott McTominay bicycle-kick went over the bar.

Lobotka was the big risk and it did not pay off, because his ankle lasted only 13 minutes before hobbling off to make way for Billy Gilmour.

However, Napoli opened the scoring moments later when McTominay picked a perfectly timed and above all weighted pass for Romelu Lukaku, who shrugged off Johan Vasquez to sweep into the far bottom corner off the inside of the boot from seven yards.

Siegrist pushed the Giacomo Raspadori strike over the bar from a tricky angle, while Vitinha couldn’t get on the end of the deflected Junior Messias roll across the face of goal.

Genoa very nearly equalised on the half-hour mark, as Andrea Pinamonti nodded a Vitinha free kick onto the top of the crossbar with Alex Meret well beaten.

That was only a warning, as moments later the Grifone did draw level with another Vitinha free kick not cleared properly, so Honest Ahanor’s header on a Messias cross hit the upright and ricocheted in off Meret’s body.

Lukaku stung Siegrist’s gloves straight after the restart, while Raspadori pounced on a loose ball to test the goalkeeper’s legs at the near post.

Siegrist rode his luck a little when dealing with the Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa tap-in from six yards on a Giovanni Di Lorenzo pull-back, aided by Johan Vasquez’s block.

Napoli did restore their lead when McTominay threaded through down the left, as Raspadori controlled with an important right-footed first touch, then blasted in with his left foot on the second at the near post.

McTominay’s ferocious finish was palmed round the near stick moments later, while Amir Rrahmani did just enough to stop Pinamonti tapping in the Brooke Norton-Cuffy cross.

However, it was not over, as Aaron Martin whipped in a cross from the left for the towering Johan Vasquez header to draw Genoa level.

Politano saw his left-foot scorcher palmed over the bar, but in stoppages Philip Billing nodded a David Neres cross wide of the back post from six yards.

Napoli 2-2 Genoa

Lukaku 15 (N), Meret og 32 (G), Raspadori 64 (N), Vasquez 84 (G)

11-05-2025 19:45 MatchDay 36 Stadio Diego Armando Maradona

Napoli

Genoa 2 - 2

Player statistic

1st half

Romelu Lukaku (Assist: Scott McTominay)		15'
		32'

Alex Meret 45' Johan Vásquez 2nd half

	58'	Vitinha
Giacomo Raspadori (Assist: Scott McTominay)	64'
	84'

Johan Vásquez (Assist: Aarón Martín) Philip Billing

89' Napoli Genoa

Starting lineups

1

Alex Meret Goalkeeper 13

Amir Rrahmani Defender 22

Giovanni Di Lorenzo Defender 37

Leonardo Spinazzola Defender 17

Mathías Olivera Defender 99

Frank Anguissa Midfielder 8

Scott McTominay Midfielder 68

Stanislav Lobotka Midfielder 13' 81

Giacomo Raspadori Attacker 80' 21

Matteo Politano Attacker 88' 11

Romelu Lukaku Attacker 31

Benjamin Siegrist Goalkeeper 15 Brooke Norton-Cuffy Defender 69 Honest Ahanor Defender 78' 22

Johan Vásquez Defender 34 Sebastian Otoa Defender 69' 20

Stefano Sabelli Defender 78' 32 Morten Frendrup Midfielder 73 Patrizio Masini Midfielder 19

Andrea Pinamonti Attacker 10

Junior Messias Attacker 59' 9 Vitinha Attacker

69'

Substitutes

96

Simone Scuffet Goalkeeper 14 Nikita Contini Goalkeeper 18

Giovanni Simeone Attacker 30 Pasquale Mazzocchi Defender 9

Noah Okafor Attacker 26

Cyril Ngonge Attacker 29 Luis Hasa Midfielder 16 Rafa Marín Defender 6

Billy Gilmour Midfielder 13' 15

Philip Billing Midfielder 80' 7

David Neres Attacker 88' 47

Milan Badelj Midfielder 4 Koni De Winter Defender 39 Daniele Sommariva Goalkeeper 1 Nicola Leali Goalkeeper 5 Jean Onana Midfielder 21 Jeff Ekhator Attacker 3

Aarón Martín Defender 59' 13

Mattia Bani Defender 69' 53 Lior Kasa Midfielder 69' 59 Alessandro Zanoli Defender 78' 76

Lorenzo Venturino Attacker

78'