Fiorentina 1-1 Napoli: Jiménez cancels out Gilmour to deny Allegri's side at the Franchi

Napoli did almost everything but win at the Franchi. Massimiliano Allegri's side had the better of the ball and the better of the chances for most of the lunchtime kick-off, yet came away with only a point after Fiorentina fought back from a goal down to hold on for a 1-1 draw.

Billy Gilmour opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, finishing off a move set up by Matteo Politano to give the visitors a deserved lead heading into the interval. Fiorentina levelled six minutes into the second half through Álex Jiménez, whose effort deflected in off the Napoli defence to make it 1-1, a goal that changed the tone of the afternoon even though Napoli continued to have the better of the possession and territory for long stretches after it.

Match stats

The booking count was even — one caution apiece, for Fiorentina's Luca Ranieri and Napoli's Franco Mastantuono — but everything else in the numbers points to a Napoli side that dominated territory without turning it into a second goal. Allegri did not hide his frustration afterwards, pointing squarely at his side's finishing rather than their control of the game.

"We played a technical game, but we need to be more ruthless in front of goal. We may be improving, but today we should leave the pitch angry — which means we still have work to do. Seventy percent possession isn't enough if you don't convert the chances you create."

— Massimiliano Allegri, Napoli manager

A missed chance to close the gap at the top

Coming into this round, Napoli sat 9th in Serie A with 6 points from four matches, having beaten Genoa and Bologna either side of losses to Como and Inter, plus a Champions League defeat at Arsenal in midweek. Fiorentina had endured a much harder start, 15th with just 3 points from four games — three defeats, including a heavy 0-4 loss to Roma on the opening weekend, offset only by a 4-2 win away at Venezia. The draw takes Napoli to 7 points and Fiorentina to 4, a result that helps the home side far more than the away one given where each side sits in the table.

Fiorentina's turnaround

That table puts this result in context. Fiorentina lost their first three Serie A matches of the season, conceding nine goals in the process and shipping four alone in the opening-day defeat at Roma, and looked in real danger of an early crisis. The 4-2 win at Venezia the following weekend was the first sign of a turn, and holding one of the division's most possession-heavy sides to a draw after going behind — against a Napoli team that had won three of its first four league games — extends that recovery to two matches without defeat, even if the underlying numbers at the Franchi still tilted heavily toward the visitors.

What's next

For Fiorentina, a point salvaged against one of the more fancied sides in the division, after trailing, is exactly the kind of result manager Paolo Vanoli needed to arrest the club's difficult start to the season. For Napoli, the international break arrives at an awkward moment: a side controlling games without controlling scorelines, and a manager already demanding more from a squad that dominated the ball at the Franchi and still walked away with only a draw.