Napoli and PSG draw 1-1 leaving fascinating Group C wide open

Group C was thrown wide open today as Liverpool fell 2-0 to Red Star Belgrade before Napoli and and Paris St Germain drew 1-1 in Naples.

PSG are waltzing away with their domestic league with 12 straight wins but arbitration in the CAS over they way they have funded that domination looms. In that atmosphere they traveled to Naples to face Napoli.

The Parisians made the brighter start with early shots from Marco Verratti and Kylian Mbappé both blocked.  It took Napoli 24 minutes to threaten but Dries Mertens fired wide.

Thee are not many prizes for tackle of the season but if there were Kalidou Koulibaly’s 28th minute dispossession of Mbappé would win it at a canter. The French striker was sufficiently traumatised to run back and commit a foul petulant enough to enter the referee’s notebook. Teammate Thilo Kehrer followed him shortly after.

It was then Koulibaly again who made a timely interception to stop a certain Neymar conversion of a right wing cross.

Napoli had three late corners at the end of the first half which appeared to give their fans some sense of optimism after being second best in the first.

However, in stoppage time Paris took the lead. Juan Bernat may have been off balance when he received the ball but his right footed shot from the centre of the penalty area converted Mbappé’s cross after a quickly taken free kick and a mazy run by the French teenager.

The goal came in the 71st second of stoppage time angering Napoli players after just one minute had been signaled. Fabian Ruiz was booked in the subsequent protests.

Eight minutes into the second, Napoli had a wonderful opportunity to level but José Callejón’s close range effort was brilliantly blocked by Kehrer  before Fabian was denied by Gianluigi Buffon’s fingertips. It was Napoli’s best spell of the match by far.

They got their reward when Buffon brought down Callejon and a penalty was awarded. Lorenzo Insigne’s spot kick was perfect and gave his fellow countryman no chance.

Napoli remained in the ascendancy for the remaining 27 minutes and finished the game having attempted 20 shots though both sides commendably tried to find a winner until the very end.

With the result in Belgrade, this group is now one of the most exciting. PSG and Liverpool have a great deal to lose if they are eliminated.

 

Napoli: David Ospina, Kalidou Koulibaly, Raúl Albiol, Mário Rui; Nikola Maksimovic, Marek Hamsik, Allan, Fabián Ruiz, José Callejón, Dries Mertens, Lorenzo Insigne

PSG: Gianluigi Buffon; Thiago Silva, Thilo Kehrer, Marquinhos, Ángel Di María, Julian Draxler, Marco Verratti, Juan Bernat, Thomas Meunier, Neymar, Kylian Mbappé