A solid display and penalty miss from Victor Osimhen saw Bologna hold SSC Napoli to a 0-0 draw in Serie A (SA), keeping a clean sheet for the first time in 10 H2Hs against Gli Azzurri, Reelradio.com.ng reports.
There were some concerning signs early on for Bologna, with Victor Osimhen hitting the post and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia poking the rebound wide before Stefan Posch was forced off due to an injury.
Victor Osimhen thought he had scored after five minutes when running onto the Giacomo Raspadori ball over the top, but the ferocious strike from a tight angle was fingertipped onto the inside of the far post by Lukasz Skorupski.
Bologna were lucky then, but unfortunate moments later as Stefan Posch pulled up clutching the back of his thigh and had to be replaced by Lorenzo De Silvestri.
Skorupski fumbled a cross after a foul from Leo Ostigard, though it took a while for the referee to eventually stop play, while Matias Olivera ran a risk in his collision with Remo Freuler in the penalty area.
Kvicha Kvaratskhelia saw his shot smothered by Skorupski at the near post, while Raspadori blasted inches over the crossbar.
After the restart, Lorenzo De Silvestri prevented Kvaratskhelia going clear on goal from an Osimhen assist, then the Georgian and Osimhen forced saves from a tricky angle.
The hosts lost another defender to injury, Jhon Lucumi, and gave Alexis Saelemaekers his debut.
The game was all set to turn when Zielinski squeezed a pass through for Kvaratskhelia, who rolled across for the Osimhen tap-in, but Riccardo Calafiori stumbled and fell onto the ball, pushing it away. A penalty was inevitable and Osimhen stepped up, only to blast the spot-kick well wide of the target.
Bologna were revitalised by that let-off and Joshua Zirkzee stung Alex Meret’s gloves at the near post after nutmegging Ostigard.
Rudi Garcia has not won over the Napoli fans, as became even more evident when they loudly jeered his decisions to substitute first Kvaratskhelia and then Osimhen. The Nigerian striker also seemed furious at the call to come off for Giovanni Simeone with four minutes plus stoppages still left, telling Garcia that he wanted two strikers to go for the win.
The result sees Napoli lying seventh in the table, seven points adrift of leaders Inter Milan. Bologna are a point behind Napoli in 11th.
