Serie A: Napoli 0-0 Inter Milan

Sunday evening's Serie A clash at the San Paolo saw two of Italy's top clubs battle for vital points in their respective campaigns. Inter Milan travelled south looking to strengthen their vice-like grip on the Scudetto race, while Napoli were looking to move back into the top four with a win over the Nerazzurri.

Napoli started well as the match began at hectic pace. In the tenth minute they were unlucky not to take the lead when the brilliant Slovakian midfielder Marek Hamsik received the ball on the edge of the box following Walter Gargano's free kick, bending the ball against the crossbar beyond the despairing reach of Julio Cesar.

Hamsik was involved again a few minutes later, swinging in a perfect cross for German Denis. The Argentine's thumping header came up against a Cesar-shaped brick wall thanks to an excellent reaction save from the Inter stopper.

Inter also hit the woodwork in the first half with a stinging left-footed half volley by Sulley Muntari which shook the top corner of the goal frame just before the half hour mark, but the first half belonged to the Partenopei. Juan Camilo Zuniga, one of Pierpaolo Marino's last signings, caused regular problems for Inter down the right wing.

Inter finally got a foothold in the game just before half time and began to knock the ball around crisply, drawing the whistles from the San Paolo crowd. But, like the Azzurri, they were unable to make their pressure pay and had to settle for a goalless scoreline at the break. Muntari, fortunate to have avoided a yellow card until his third foul, was incredibly lucky to make it to half time.

Inter came out all guns blazing for the second half and four minutes in they were appealing loudly for a penalty. Napoli failed to clear a cross and Diego Milito went down easily after a tug to his shirt by Gianluca Grava. A minute later Wesley Sneijder was grateful to receive only a yellow card for a nasty foul on Gargano.

Goran Pandev should have continued his impressive scoring run on the hour. Having found himself staring down Morgan De Sanctis witht the ball at his feet, he could only fire his shot straight at the goalkeeper when a yard either side would have seen the ball in the net. It was a real let off for Napoli and the first real sign that they might regret not opening the scoring in the first 45 minutes.

Napoli had an even better chance a few minutes later. Denis leapt to nod a cross back to Quagliarella on the edge of the area and the Neapolitan's volley thumped the bottom of the post. In truth, Denis' failure to finish from the rebound has to go down as an awful miss. Nevertheless, he was soon putting Cesar under pressure again and the Brazilian had to be sharp to keep Inter level.

The same move by Denis gave Napoli another chance with eleven minutes left, but Hamsik's volley screwed wide of Cesar's goal with the Azzurri in the ascendancy despite Inter's introduction of Samuel Eto'o and the increase in tempo he brought to the match.

The sides had to settle for a point each, a result which puts Inter seven points clear at the top but does few favours for the home side.