Lorenzo Insigne’s penalty neutralised a Juan Bernat opener, as Napoli held Paris Saint-Germain and went joint top with Liverpool.
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Lorenzo Insigne’s penalty neutralised a Juan Bernat opener, as Napoli held Paris Saint-Germain and went joint top with Liverpool.
Follow all the action as it happens from this game and Inter-Barcelona on the LIVEBLOG.
The group was wide open after a shock result in Belgrade, where Red Star beat Liverpool 2-0. Carlo Ancelotti’s men had been leading at Parc des Princes until the last-gasp Angel Di Maria screamer made it 2-2. Gianluigi Buffon made his Champions League debut for PSG after the three-match ban, with Thiago Silva returning from injury, but Edinson Cavani was only on the bench. Dries Mertens was given the nod in attack after his hat-trick in Saturday’s 5-1 win over Empoli.
PSG got themselves in a very dangerous position, but over-complicated matters, as Neymar pulled back for Meunier relatively unmarked from 12 yards, but instead of going for goal, he tried to pass it back to the offside Brazilian.
Neymar went for it himself dribbling past four players, but Mario Rui intelligently cut him off in the box, while Kylian Mbappé’s half-volley flashed across the face of goal.
Dries Mertens snuck away from the crowd to prod a free kick just wide of the near post. Kalidou Koulibaly won a standing ovation from the crowd after his extraordinary sliding tackle to snatch the ball clean off the foot of Mbappé in full flight.
Lorenzo Insigne’s free kick was deflected and he had an even better chance with a spectacular volley on the turn, deflected just wide of the near post.
However, right on the stroke of half-time, Paris Saint-Germain took the lead. Mbappé got to the by-line and pulled back for Juan Bernat, who managed to poke home despite stumbling from seven yards.
Buffon got down for a difficult save at full stretch on the Mertens angled drive, but then flew to fingertip the Belgian’s delightful lob out from under the bar, as Napoli came flying out of the blocks for the second half and pinned PSG back.
After a series of Napoli chances, including a deflected Mertens attempt over from point-blank range, they got the deserved equaliser.
Thiago Silva had a poor first touch in the box and Callejon pounced, sandwiched between the defender and Buffon for a penalty. Insigne stepped up and converted right into the near bottom corner, despite his Italy teammate guessing the right angle.
It remained wide open with chances for both sides and a high tempo to the bitter end, but they shared the spoils once again.
This means Napoli are the only unbeaten team in the group and PSG only managed one win in the opening four matches.
Napoli 1-1 PSG
Bernat 45 (P), Insigne pen 62 (N)
Napoli: Ospina; Maksimovic (Hysaj 76), Albiol, Koulibaly, Mario Rui; Callejon, Allan, Hamsik, Fabian (Zielinski 70); Insigne, Mertens
PSG: Buffon; Kehrer, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos; Bernat, Draxler, Verratti, Meunier (Kimpembe 73); Neymar, Mbappé, Di Maria (Cavani 76)
Ref: Kuipers (NED)