Scott McTominay embroiled in late Napoli Serie A title drama as Billy Gilmour's replacement comes up trumps

Napoli scored a late leveller in their top-of-the-table showdown with Serie A title rivals Internazionale to make sure they remain just a point behind the defending champions after a 1-1 draw in Naples.

Napoli, with Scotland duo Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour in their ranks, relinquished their place at the top of Serie A last weekend when they went down to a surprise defeat by Como. Inter leapfrogged Antonio Conte’s men by overcoming Genoa to leave them with a one-point advantage going into the crunch clash at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Saturday evening.

Philip Billing scored late for Napoli against Inter - and Scott McTominay certainly enjoyed it. | Getty Images

Conte shuffled his pack for the visit of Nerazzurri and while McTominay unsurprisingly kept his place in the starting XI, there was shock recall for his Scotland teammate and former Rangers kid Gilmour, who was selected from the off for the first time since the start of December.

Napoli went into the match in front of a frenzied home support on a four-game winless run and they fell behind to Inter on 22 minutes when defender Federico Dimarco netted from a direct free-kick.

Napoli needed a response after the interval and McTominay came close on 65 minutes when his shot from the edge of the penalty box was well saved by Inter keeper Josep Martinez.

Conte withdrew Gilmour from proceedings on 79 minutes for Philip Billing - and it proved an inspired bit of management. The Danish midfielder netted a rebound just three minutes from time to restore parity and ensure that Inter do not move further clear of them in the title race.

Scotland internationalist Billy Gilmour was a surprise starter for Napoli. | Getty Images

Third-placed Atalanta failed to put pressure on the two teams above them earlier on Saturday when they drew 0-0 at home to struggling Venezia in Bergamo. It means that at the close of play, Inter remain top on 57 points, Napoli second on 56 points and Atalanta third on 55 points, although they have played a game more than the top two.

All three teams are back in action next weekend. Inter are at home to bottom club Monza on the Saturday, while 24 hours later, Napoli host Fiorentina and Atalanta are at Juventus.