Dries Mertens scored in the 90th minute to rescue a point for the hosts, after Stephan El Shaarawy had broken the deadlock inside the opening 15 minutes.

In truth the Giallorossi had their backs to the wall for large parts of the match, defending diligently to preserve their early lead.

Robin Olsen, Kostas Manolas and Juan Jesus were all magnificent defensively - only to be frustrated at the very last when Mertens ghosted in at the far post to direct an errant shot on target.

TEAM NEWS

Aleksandar Kolarov returned to the starting line-up after his foot injury, while Davide Santon replaced Alessandro Florenzi at right-back.

Daniele De Rossi captained the side, on his 450th appearance in Serie A.

First half

7' - Hamsik with some good footwork inside the box before he lays the ball off for Insigne - but Manolas makes an important block.

14' - GOAL! GET IN! Brilliant work from Cengiz Under to get to the byline and cut the ball back - Edin Dzeko can't get on the end of it but El Shaarawy is there to just about squeeze the ball home! 0-1!

19' - Olsen makes a good save to palm away Milik's rasping effort - the goalkeeper blocks Insigne's follow-up too, although the forward was offside.

20' - Olsen again to the rescue, this time repelling Hamsik's powerful first-time strike.

32' - Olsen saves and holds from Hamsik's long-range shot. Moments earlier, Manolas made an incredible intervention to clear a driven ball into the box.

35' - Albiol clears off the line to deny Dzeko! So close!

42' - Insigne flashes a shot narrowly wide from distance...

Second half

48' - Early chances at both ends - Cristante dragging a shot narrowly wide of goal for the Giallorossi.

55' - Dzeko is booked for simulation, after going down in the box after being played through brilliantly by Santon.

60' - Now Nzonzi is booked for a misjudged challenge. Napoli pile on the pressure from the resulting free-kick, but Roma eventually clear.

66' - Insigne blasts over from inside the box, after Hamsik squares it to him. Let-off.

74' - Napoli think they have the equaliser, but the flag is up for offside.

82' - Mertens lashes into the back of the net, but again the flag is up for offside.

90' - Goal. Napoli score. Mertens gets the final touch at the far post. 1-1.

KEY MATCH STATISTICS

SOCIAL REACTION

ROMA REACTION

“We can’t suffer like we did in the second half, without clearing our lines for at least a spell. But we showed our strength in getting a draw at the San Paolo, which is a very tough place to go. We need to build on that.”

- Juan Jesus

“We’re disappointed to have conceded in the 90th minute, even though I have to say Napoli deserved to draw in the end, given how the match went. We had players starting with fitness problems. What we most struggled with was keeping our rhythm and being incisive. We were much better in the first half in playing the ball out through their press."

- Eusebio Di Francesco

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Giallorossi are in action against Fiorentina on Saturday.

They then travel to Russia to face CSKA Moscow in the Champions League the following Wednesday.