Napoli 2-2 Verona: McTominay and Di Lorenzo lead second-half fightback

Second-half efforts from Scott McTominay and Giovanni Di Lorenzo saw Napoli recover from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw against Verona in Serie A.

Antonio Conte’s team could have gone top of the table, at least temporarily, had they taken all three points, but they instead had to rely on a rescue act to go within a point of leaders Inter, prior to the Nerazzurri facing Parma on Wednesday.

Napoli dominated the ball early on and saw Eljif Elmas’ near-post attempt smothered by visiting captain Lorenzo Montipo, but by the 27th minute, the champions were 2-0 down.

Martin Frese met Cheikh Niasse’s centre with an inventive backheel to put Verona ahead in the 16th minute, then Gift Orban – who had been heavily involved in the opening goal – stroked home from the penalty spot after Alessandro Buongiorno was penalised for handball.

Napoli got one back nine minutes into the second half as Nicolas Valentini failed to prevent McTominay’s header from a Noa Lang corner from squirming over the line, then Rasmus Hojlund – who had earlier sent a header spinning off-target – fired over.

Hojlund thought he had equalised with a volley on the stretch in the 72nd minute, only for the goal to be disallowed for a handball by the Manchester United loanee, then Amir Rrahmani was denied by the offside flag after converting from McTominay’s knock-down.

However, it was third time lucky for Napoli as they got their equaliser eight minutes from time, with Di Lorenzo sweeping Luca Marianucci’s cross inside the near post.

Napoli hunted a winner in vain, though they were fortunate not to see their point slip away when Giovane’s audacious lob rippled the side netting in stoppage time.

20 & 30 – Since his #SerieA debut (2018/19), Giovanni Di Lorenzo is one of only three defenders to have scored 20+ goals and provided 30+ assists (20G+30A for him) in the Big-5 European leagues, along with Raphaël Guerreiro and Achraf Hakimi. Engine.#NapoliHellasVerona

— OptaPaolo (@OptaPaolo) January 7, 2026

Data Debrief: Napoli salvage unbeaten home streak

Among all clubs in Europe’s top-five leagues, Napoli were the only one to remain unbeaten at home across all competitions in 2025 (21 games, 15 wins, six draws).

Their long unbeaten run looked to be in serious danger at the interval on Wednesday, with Verona deservedly ahead at that point after amassing 1.69 expected goals (xG) to the hosts’ 0.56 in the first half.

But Napoli improved markedly after the break, firing off 11 shots to the visitors’ seven and creating chances worth 0.53 xG to Verona’s 0.21. After clawing their way back to parity, the Partenopei are unbeaten in their last 23 home games overall.