The top game in Serie A ended in a draw. Scot Scott McTominay twice overturned a deficit at Inter Milan for SSC Napoli.
After the performance-based 2:2, Inter is still three points clear at the top of the table over city rivals AC, who drew 1-1 at AC Fiorentina in the afternoon. Napoli, in turn, has one point less than Milan, just like AS Roma.
SSC Napoli was about to take the lead on Sunday evening (January 11th, 2026) and thus make the Italian league even more exciting. But then there was a fateful kick from Amir Rrahmani. It wasn’t a vicious kick, the Kosovar stomped on Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s foot after he had already played the ball.
Red card for coach Conte
According to the images on the sidelines, referee Daniele Doveri awarded a penalty. Napoli’s coach Antonio Conte was terribly upset because the pass had already been played and didn’t lead to a good scoring opportunity. He was shown a red card for this, and he also had to watch as Hakan Calhanoglu scored to make it 2-1 in the 73rd minute.
Napoli were now seven points behind Inter in the blitz table. But then came the man again who was one of the most important things for the SSC in winning the title last season: Scott McTominay equalized in the 81st minute with his second goal of the evening.
McTominay important fixed point
Kevin De Bruyne has been missing from SSC Napoli for months, and the noble Belgian technician will be out for many more weeks. This makes McTominay all the more important for the champions again this season. The Scot is a driver, a strategist and usually does his job reliably defensively.
On Sunday he was once again the focus of a game that was initially dominated by Inter, then became a fast-paced and exciting back and forth that sometimes also provided some playful highlights.
McTominay makes a mistake and scores
This included the attack that led to the league leaders’ 1-0 lead. McTominay played a role that he would have gladly renounced because he lost the ball in midfield, allowing a counterattack that ended with Federico Dimarco’s goal, which ran past Marcus Thuram and was served by the former Gladbacher at exactly the right time. The diagonal shot from a half-left position hit the bottom right (9th minute).
Inter, with German international Yann Bisseck at the right end of the three-man chain, was superior for almost the first half of the first half. Then Napoli came up and equalized through McTominay. Eljif Elmas passed sharply into the middle from the left side, McTominay was a fraction sooner on the ball than Manuel Akanji and shot from close range past Yann Sommer into the near corner to make it 1-1 (26th).
Decisive in front of Manuel Akanji on the ball: Scott McTominay at 1-1
Mkhitaryan hits the post in added time
After the break, Napoli dominated the game at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium and had several chances to take the lead. The first was missed by Rasmus Höjlund, who scored from a similar position as Dimarco, but hit the ball poorly (48′). A little later, Giovanni Di Lorenzo headed wide from a central position.
Napoli were on it until Mkhitaryan stepped on the foot, which thanks to McTominay wasn’t disastrous for the champions. However, the defending champions also needed a bit of luck in stoppage time. Inter’s Mkhitaryan hit the post with a shot.