Gilmour put Napoli ahead in the 23rd minute, and Jiménez levelled six minutes after the restart with a shot that took a decisive deflection off Rafa Marín. The lunchtime game was played in 30-degree heat and lived on bursts of action. Fiorentina hit the crossbar twice in two minutes through Arthur Atta and Nicolò Fagioli before Napoli scored, and Mathías Olivera struck a post for the visitors.
David de Gea kept Fiorentina level with a late save from David Neres, and Vanja Milinković-Savić denied a counter-attack in the second half. The point takes Fiorentina to four points and Napoli to seven, six behind the leaders.
Vanoli, speaking at his press conference, said: “I said not to look at the table but at what we are doing on the pitch and our path. I thank the fans, who pushed us the whole time. Since I arrived everyone has put themselves at the service of their team-mates. Napoli are a strong side: they come from a scudetto and a second place. We faced them with courage, despite some mistakes we need to improve on.
"But today I saw the desire to get a result; what stays with me most is the reaction after going behind.”
He added what he wanted to take from the afternoon: “We have to improve at managing the game better technically. But what I liked is the ability to stay in the game in difficult moments.”
Allegri spoke in his own press conference, also reported by TuttoMercatoWeb, and was blunt about the finishing.
He said, “I hope to solve the problem in the finishing phase: for every problem I have to find a solution. If we leave happy with the draw today, that is not good, we need to be angry against a good Fiorentina. In the first half the crossbar saved us, but then we had the chances. We lack that pinch of lucidity and ruthlessness.”
Asked why he kept Kevin De Bruyne on the pitch rather than bringing on Antonio Vergara, he said: “At that moment the game was slower and De Bruyne could give us a higher quality in the final pass than Vergara can. If I had put Vergara on and we had conceded on the counter-attack... in football you don't get anywhere with hindsight. I think the game was good but we are missing something in the last 15 metres.”
Both sides are back on 10 October, when Fiorentina visit Genoa and Napoli host Frosinone.