Napoli blow 2-0 lead, lose 3-2 at home to Inter

Napoli led 2-0 inside eight minutes of the second half against Inter, only to concede three times after the hour and lose 3-2.

The numbers show Inter dominating beyond the early scoreline: 63% possession to Napoli's 37%, 29 shots to 16, 10 corners to 5. The gap in shots on target was narrower, 8 to 7, but it does not change the overall picture. Napoli held out for a game and a half, then folded once Inter pushed higher up the pitch.

Substitutions did not change the momentum. Vergara, booked in the 35th minute, was replaced in the 62nd by De Bruyne. Politano made way for Neres and Höjlund for Lucca, but all three second-half goals came after those changes, including the 90th-minute strike set up by Akanji. Marín was also booked, in the 77th minute, a sign of a team losing its discipline both on the pitch and from the bench as the game slipped away.

Napoli stay eighth with 4 points from three matches, while a group of rivals — Inter, Como, Roma, Juventus, Milan, Lazio and Atalanta — are already on 6 or 7. Throwing away a two-goal lead against a side Napoli will be measured against all season matters more than a single defeat. It is the kind of result that decides, by the end of the season, whether a team is chasing or being chased — and the responsibility for a team that came apart in the second half rests first with those picking the side.