Fiorentina 1 - 1 Napoli: Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain back among the goals in draw with Fiorentina

Posted Tuesday, March 01, 2016 by PA

Fiorentina and Napoli thwarted each other's Serie A missions and gave up valuable points in an exciting 1-1 draw at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

Former leaders Napoli had fallen four points behind Juventus and Gonzalo Higuain's equaliser - his first goal in five matches - cancelled out Marcos Alonso's early header but it was only enough to reduce the gap to three points on Monday night.

La Viola, meanwhile, draw level on points with Roma in the final Champions League place, but remain fourth due to an inferior head-to-head record.

With third place beckoning for Fiorentina and Juve threatening to leave Napoli behind in the title race, both sides started with real verve and ambition.

It was no surprise that the opener arrived so quickly but its source was unlikely, with left-back Alonso heading Borja Valero's corner beyond Jose Reina in the sixth minute.

Less than 60 seconds later, Higuain had brought an end to his worrying goal drought by coolly bringing up his 25th of the league season when Ciprian Tatarusanu and Alonso failed to communicate properly in the Fiorentina back-line.

The deflated Tuscans managed to hit the crossbar twice before the break, firstly through Nikola Kalinic and then through Cristian Tello, and Milan Badelj might have done better with his effort on the stroke of half-time.

The second half was slightly less intense but certainly had its moments. Napoli carved out a double chance on the hour mark - Tatarusanu made a smart save from Jose Callejon before denying Higuain an easy tap-in.

When Mati Fernandez whipped the ball past the far post it would be Fiorentina's last real attempt, and Napoli's challenge was over when an apparent late conversion of a Dries Mertens assist was ruled invalid as Higuain was offside.