Napoli miss chance to go top of Serie A with 1-1 draw at Venezia

VENICE, Italy, Mar 16 (Reuters): Napoli wasted a chance to provisionally reclaim top spot in the Serie A standings for the first time since February when they were held to a 0-0 draw at second-from-bottom Venezia on Sunday.

Napoli remained in second place with 61 points from 29 matches - level with leaders Inter Milan and three points ahead of third-placed Atalanta, who face each other later on Sunday.

Both sides had opportunities to score in a frantic opening spell at the Pier Luigi Penzo Stadium, with Napoli's Giacomo Raspadori hitting the post while Venezia forward Daniel Fila fired straight at visiting goalkeeper Alex Meret from a promising position.

Napoli began to exert control over the contest as the first half wore on and Venezia stopper Ionut Radu had to be alert to keep out efforts from Raspadori, Romelu Lukaku and Scott McTominay.

The home side almost scored against the run of play in the 42nd minute but Fila's low shot was prevented from crossing the line by a brilliant last-ditch block from Amir Rrahmani.