Serie A | Monza 0-1 Napoli: McTominay keeps Scudetto hope alive

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Susy Campanale | Last updated Apr 19, 2025 1:51 PM ET

Scott McTominay’s third goal in two games allowed Napoli to get the better of Monza and pile pressure on leaders Inter with their first away victory in three months.

The Partenopei missed David Neres, Alessandro Buongiorno and Juan Jesus, so Rafa Marin got his first Serie A start after just two cameo appearances in this competition all season, with Leonardo Spinazzola pushed into a more advanced role, plus Billy Gilmour preferred to Andre Frank Zambo Anguissa. The hosts were practically doomed already, with Danilo D’Ambrosio, Armando Izzo, Keita Balde Diao, Kevin Zeroli and Matteo Pessina injured.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro got down the left and rolled across for a Dany Mota Carvalho tap-in, denied by the crucial Rafa Marin interception from six yards.

Stefano Turati struggled to parry a powerful McTominay free kick, then moments later Luca Caldirola threw himself in the path of McTominay’s tap-in to deflect it over. On the resulting corner, Amir Rrahmani nodded just wide.

Gaetano Castrovilli almost gave Monza a shock opener on 29 minutes, as he got away from Matias Olivera and then Rafa Marin down the right, flashing a shot across the face of goal to skim the far post.

Monza also threatened when a corner was cleared to the edge of the area, where Alessandro Bianco’s volley was deflected wide off teammate Dany Mota Carvalho.

When Matteo Politano’s curler was deflected into the path of Romelu Lukaku, the Belgian horribly scuffed the finish from six yards. Monza also came close before half-time, Dany Mota unable to get enough to flick on the Georgios Kyriakopoulos low cross from the left.

Castrovilli also had timid penalty appeals waved away as he went down too easily, while Andrea Carboni made a crucial tackle on Lukaku after Samuele Birindelli’s misplaced pass sparked a counter-attack.

Giacomo Raspadori was introduced for Matias Olivera, dropping Spinazzola into his more regular left-back role. It almost paid off when Raspadori’s through ball sent Politano sprinting clear on goal, but Turati kept his cool for a decisive one-handed save.

For the sixth time this season, the deadlock was broken by McTominay, who managed to shrug off Caldirola for a free header on Raspadori’s cross from the left, catching Turati stranded off his line. The former Manchester United midfielder continues to improve his personal best of nine league goals, 10 including the Coppa Italia.

A deflected Raspadori effort looped up and risked surprising Turati under the bar, but the 1-0 result proved enough for Napoli’s first away victory since January 18 over Atalanta.

Monza 0-1 Napoli

McTominay 72 (N)

19-04-2025 17:00 MatchDay 33 Stadio Brianteo (U-Power Stadium)

Monza

Napoli Live 0 - 1

Player statistic

1st half

		30'		Rafa Marín
Dany Mota		33'

2nd half

Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro		54'
Alessandro Bianco		70'
		72'

Scott McTominay (Assist: Giacomo Raspadori) Luca Caldirola 86' 90'

Cyril Ngonge Monza Napoli

Starting lineups

30 Stefano Turati Goalkeeper 44 Andrea Carboni Defender 77

Georgios Kyriakopoulos Defender 5

Luca Caldirola Defender 19 Samuele Birindelli Defender 76' 42 Alessandro Bianco Midfielder 84' 11

Gaetano Castrovilli Midfielder 84' 7

Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro Midfielder 67' 13

Pedro Pereira Midfielder 47 Dany Mota Attacker 10

Gianluca Caprari Attacker 1

Alex Meret Goalkeeper 13

Amir Rrahmani Defender 22

Giovanni Di Lorenzo Defender 37

Leonardo Spinazzola Defender 17

Mathías Olivera Defender 64' 16 Rafa Marín Defender 6

Billy Gilmour Midfielder 46' 8

Scott McTominay Midfielder 68

Stanislav Lobotka Midfielder 21

Matteo Politano Attacker 85' 11

Romelu Lukaku Attacker

79'

Substitutes

Stefano Sensi Midfielder 37

Andrea Petagna Attacker 69 Andrea Mazza Goalkeeper 80 Samuele Vignato Midfielder 21 Semuel Pizzignacco Goalkeeper 3 Stefan Lekovic Defender 20 Omari Forson Attacker 22 Tomas Palacios Defender 55 Kevin Martins Attacker 2 Arvid Brorsson Defender 6

Roberto Gagliardini Midfielder 67' 35 Silvère Ganvoula Attacker 76' 8 Kacper Urbanski Midfielder 84' 84 Patrick Ciurria Attacker 84' 96

Simone Scuffet Goalkeeper 30 Pasquale Mazzocchi Defender 9

Noah Okafor Attacker 15

Philip Billing Midfielder 29 Luis Hasa Midfielder 12

Claudio Turi Goalkeeper 99

Frank Anguissa Midfielder 46' 81

Giacomo Raspadori Attacker 64' 18

Giovanni Simeone Attacker 79' 26

Cyril Ngonge Attacker

85'

This article first appeared on Football Italia and was syndicated with permission.

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