Venezia beat Napoli 1-0 as De Bruyne misses penalty

Venezia needed only one moment. Adams converted a pass from Sohm in the 49th minute, straight after the restart, to put the hosts ahead.

Allegri reacted with a drastic change: between the 54th and 55th minutes, De Bruyne, Höjlund and Santos came on together, replacing Gilmour, Lucca and Giovane. Three attacking substitutions inside a minute showed how wrong Allegri felt the starting approach had been — but the change came only after Napoli had gone behind, not before.

Politano replaced Beukema in the 63rd minute, pushing Napoli further into Venezia's half. Then, in the 68th minute, came the chance to level it: a penalty for Napoli. De Bruyne missed it. It was the low point of the match — Napoli created their own equaliser and threw it away themselves.

Olivera came on for Spinazzola late on, but the score did not change again. Napoli finished with 29 shots to Venezia's 9, 10 on target to 4, and 12 corners to none — a huge gap that produced no point at all, and one that stings more for a side that considers itself a contender at the top. On Tuesday 20 October, at the Maradona, Napoli host Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League: that is where it will become clear whether this result changes how they approach matches, or whether it is just another missed chance to regret.