Napoli star Lorenzo Insigne broke down in tears on Monday night after his side suffered a 1-1 draw at the hands of Jose Mourinho ’s Roma.
Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli side missed the chance to move within two points of league leaders AC Milan and level on points with second placed Inter Milan after being held to a 1-1 draw by Roma at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona. Insigne, who has already agreed a deal to join Canadian Major League Soccer side Toronto, did give his side a 1-0 lead early in the first half when converting from the penalty spot.
In a bid to protect their lead Spalletti opted to take off all three members of his starting forward line, with Insigne, Hirving Lozano and Victor Osimhen all being replaced for a more defensive approach, a gamble that severely backfired.
In second half stoppage time, Stephan El Shaarawy equalised for Mourinho’s men to earn them a point in their race to secure fifth spot and qualification for next season’s Europa League.
Napoli sit four points off of Milan and two behind Inter with just five games of their Serie A campaign remaining, with Inter playing one game fewer than the two clubs directly either side of them. The last gasp draw had Insigne crying on the pitch at full-time.
The 30-year-old Naples born forward has spent his entire professional career with Napoli, barring loan spells at Cavese, Foggia and Pescara earlier in his career. Insigne’s 429 club appearances put him fourth on the club’s all-time appearance list and with 120 goals, ranks third for goals, behind only Dries Mertens (145) and Marek Hamsik (121).
This season, Insigne has scored 11 times in 32 appearances in all competitions, with his penalty against Roma being his ninth in the campaign in Italy’s top-flight. His other two goals this season have come in the Europa League.
While Napoli may now have left themselves with two much to do to catch Milan rivals AC and Inter in the title race, they should qualify for next season’s Champions League. Like in England, the top four teams qualify for the competition each season and Napoli are currently nine points clear of Roma in fifth and four clear of fourth-placed Juventus.
With his move to Toronto already finalised, Insigne has just five league games left for his hometown club before switching Serie A for MLS. Napoli’s last five games of the season all come against sides sat between tenth and 19 th in the table, although Napoli would need perfect season-ending form to stand any chance of being in the title race.
Insigne will officially join his new club Toronto on July 1, in the middle of their MLS campaign. After their opening seven games of the season, Toronto sit fifth in the Eastern Conference table and 13 th in the overall MLS standings.
Toronto are unbeaten in their last four matches, having returned to winning ways on Sunday with a 2-1 victory over Philadelphia Union, despite going a goal down.
Nicknamed the Reds, they are currently managed by former Swansea City boss Bob Bradley, whose time in south Wales saw him win just two of his 11 games in charge between October and December 2016.
