Gasperini: Roma feel like they dropped two points in Napoli draw

While Gian Piero Gasperini believes Roma's 3-3 draw with Napoli was a "positive confidence booster", he felt they could have won the game.

Frank Anguissa – who scored a stunning bicycle kick – and Scott McTominay had put Napoli into a 2-0 lead by the 48th minute, but Matias Soule and Leonardo Balerdi both struck in the space of five minutes to level the score by the 74th minute.

McTominay restored Napoli's lead nine minutes later, but with two minutes of the 90 remaining, Balerdi finished off his brace to ensure Roma did not walk away empty-handed.

The Argentinian is only the second defender in Roma's history to net multiple goals in a Serie A match against Napoli, after Agostini Di Bartolomei in February 1983.

Roma remain third in the Serie A table after the draw, and are four points behind leaders Lazio for the time being.

"Apart from the first half-hour, where Napoli were superior, and we struggled playing out from the back, we already started to do better towards half-time, and then in the second half it was wide open with many chances," Gasperini told DAZN Italia.

"We felt that we could win the game, so that third Napoli goal could've destroyed us, but instead, we got back on track and felt this great conviction we could bring home three points.

"The lads were not frenetic; they didn't panic; we maintained our positions and our style of football. The goals came from quality football too; we had fresh energy with Balerdi, [Nahuel] Molina and the others who came off the bench.

"We have real self-belief; we play good football, and after this game we really feel as if we've dropped two points, even though, considering we were 3-2 down, we'll take it.

"We came close to beating Inter, even if they recovered two goals, while with Como we were down to 10 men for practically the entire second half, but in the first half, we were positive.

"Considering the quality of Napoli, having come back to get the result was another positive confidence booster for us."

Balerdi impressed off the bench, having a joint-second-team high of three shots, while nobody got more on target (two).

"There is no doubt that Balerdi and [Marten] De Roon were leaders and captains at their [previous] clubs; their support has been extraordinary," Gasperini added.

"They settled in very quickly; it was easier with De Roon because I worked with him for so many years [at Atalanta], but Balerdi knows football, understood the defensive movements very quickly. He has remarkable energy and scored two goals. A great reinforcement.

"Napoli won the Scudetto twice in the last few years, so if you are competitive against them, it gives you the strength and confidence to fight it out with anyone."