MILAN (AP) — Napoli substitute Philip Billing stopped Inter Milan from taking a significant step toward retaining the Serie A title on Saturday.
Billing scored in the 87th minute to secure a 1-1 draw for Napoli against the league leader and defending champion.
Inter remained top of the table, just one point above Napoli and three above Atalanta, which drew 0-0 at home to relegation-threatened Venezia.
Napoli had failed to win any of its previous four matches, allowing Antonio Conte’s former team to overtake it at the top of the table.
Inter took the lead in Naples in the 22nd minute as Federico Dimarco floated a free kick over the wall and into the top left corner.
Romelu Lukaku, who had two spells at Inter, had two chances to equalize shortly afterward but sent one effort into the sidenetting and had another deflected away by defender Alessandro Bastoni's block.
Just as it seemed as if Inter was on course for a potentially crucial victory, Napoli leveled with three minutes remaining.
Stanislav Lobotka played a one-two with Scott McTominay on the left flank before running into the area and rolling the ball across for Billing, who had come on less than 10 minutes earlier.
Billing’s first attempt was parried by Inter goalkeeper Josep Martínez but came straight back to the Denmark midfielder and he tucked the rebound into the bottom right corner.
Wasteful Atalanta
Atalanta wasted several chances and the opportunity to cut the gap to the top two in Serie A.
A combination of poor finishing and good goalkeeping from Venezia’s Ionut Radu meant Atalanta failed to break the deadlock in Bergamo.
The hosts did hit the woodwork twice toward the end of the first half. First, Davide Zappacosta sent an angled shot off the right post after being set up by a backheeled flick from Ademola Lookman.
A minute later, Juan Cuadrado’s cross came off the same post.
Lookman also incredibly blazed over the bar from point-blank range seven minutes from time.
It was a precious point for Venezia, which remained in penultimate position but moved to within five points of safety following a second impressive result in a row after a draw with Lazio last week.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Daniella Matar, The Associated Press
