Serie A – Malen scores twice and Santos adds another goal, Napoli draw 2-2 with Roma.

2026-02-16 06:55

In the 25th round of the 2025/26 Serie A season, Napoli hosted Roma at home. After 90 minutes of intense play, the two sides ultimately drew 2-2.

Roma took the initiative early on, opening the scoring in just seven minutes: Gianluca Mancini and Bryan Zaragoza quickly split the Roma defense with a two-touch pass, allowing Donyell Malen to follow up and fire the first goal. Napoli responded in the 15th minute with a shot from outside the box by Stanislav Lobotka, but it was too central and easily saved by Miler Svilal. The two sides then engaged in a high-intensity battle, resulting in a stalemate for a period.

In the 40th minute, Elgif Elmas passed the ball to the left wing, and Leonardo Spinazzola unleashed a powerful shot that pierced the goal of his former club. Napoli thus equalized, and the two sides were back on level terms before halftime.

Just two minutes into the second half, Zeki Cerlik's clearance error nearly gifted Roma a goal, but Spinazzola's shot was brilliantly saved by Svilar. In the 68th minute, Roma regained the lead at 2-1: Wesley broke through on the left wing into the penalty area and was brought down by Amir Rahmani, with Malen immediately converting the penalty to complete his brace.

However, Napoli, despite falling behind again, did not panic and instead launched a full-scale attack. In the 76th minute, Alisson Santos cut inside from the left wing into the penalty area and fired a low shot that forced Svilar to dive and make a save. In the 82nd minute, Giovanni played a diagonal pass to the edge of the box, where Santos received the ball and slotted it home to equalize.

Neither side managed to score again, and the final score remained 2-2. With this result, Napoli sits in 3rd place in Serie A with 50 points (15 wins, 5 draws, 5 losses). Roma follows closely behind with 47 points, currently holding a record of 15 wins, 2 draws, and 8 losses.

Image source: Internet/Napoli official website