Napoli missed a crucial opportunity to regain the top position in Serie A after suffering a surprising 1-0 loss to Udinese on Sunday. Earlier, AC Milan's 2-2 draw with Sassuolo had set the stage for Napoli to climb one point ahead at the top. However, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp's goal in the second half was enough for Udinese to secure victory.
The match began with Napoli showing promise, nearly scoring in the 11th minute when Leonardo Spinazzola set up Noa Lang. Nicolo Bertola's timely intervention prevented what seemed like a certain goal. In the second half, Udinese had a goal disallowed after a VAR review revealed Keinan Davis was offside when he scored from Bertola's rebound.
Udinese continued to press, with Jakub Piotrowski hitting the crossbar
just before the hour mark. Nicolo Zaniolo also had a goal ruled out by VAR due to a foul on Stanislav Lobotka during the build-up. These incidents foreshadowed Napoli's defensive lapse that allowed Ekkelenkamp's deflected shot to find the net.
Napoli struggled throughout, failing to register a single shot on target for the first time since facing Lazio in January 2024. Their defence couldn't handle Ekkelenkamp's long-range effort, which took an unexpected deflection past Vanja Milinkovic-Savic into the corner of the net. Rasmus Hojlund missed a late chance to equalise, sending his close-range shot over the bar in the 88th minute.
#UdineseNapoli 1-0 90+5 | Enjoy it, Udinese fans! WE WON! #ForzaUdinese #AlUdin pic.twitter.com/iUeMVokrDk
— Udinese Calcio (@Udinese_1896) December 14, 2025
Historical Context and Recent Form
This defeat marks Napoli's first Serie A loss to Udinese since April 2016, ending an 18-match unbeaten streak against them (D4 L14). Additionally, Napoli has now lost four of their first eight away games this season for the first time since 2009-10. It was indeed a challenging day for Antonio Conte’s team.
Despite their efforts, Napoli could not capitalise on AC Milan’s earlier draw and reclaim their position at Serie A’s summit. The team will need to regroup and address these issues as they continue their campaign.
