April 24, (THEWILL) –Â In Serie A on Sunday, Victor Osimhen’s Napoli let a two-goal lead slip to finish with a heartbreaking 3-2 defeat to Empoli.
The hosts Empoli therefore ended their 17-game winless streak in incredible fashion, scoring three times in the final ten minutes to effectively end the Partenopei’s chances of winning the Scudetto.
Napoli was the team to take the lead, and it came against the run of play just before half-time.
Despite Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario getting a hand on Hirving Lozano’s cross from the right flank, Dries Mertens finished it well from inside the area.
After great work by Andre-Franck Zambo Angissa with a neat through ball for the Italian, the Partenopei doubled their lead on 54 minutes. Lorenzo Insigne placed an effort into the far corner from inside the box after great work by Andre-Franck Zambo Angissa with a neat through ball for the Italian.
Empoli, on the other hand, turned the game around with just over ten minutes remaining when Liam Henderson scored from inside the box to put his side back in the game.
Then, just four minutes later, Empoli were level following a stunning error by Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret, who surrendered the equaliser to Andrea Pinamonti.
In the 87th minute, Pinamonti completed Empoli’s comeback by tapping home Nedim Bajrami’s deep ball to send the Gli Azzurri into raptures and inflict Napoli a crushing blow.
With four games remaining, the deficit between Luciano Spalletti’s side and Inter Milan remains at five points, but the Partenopei have played one game more than both the Nerazzurri and AC Milan.
Therefore, in actuality, they needed to win all five of their remaining games to have a shot at the title only to end Sunday with a loss to Empoli.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
