Mauro Icardi and Rodrigo Palacio save point for Inter Milan against dominant Napoli

Napoli looked the better side on Sunday, holding a 2-0 lead late over Inter Milan, but a pair of goals in the last 20 minutes saved a point for the visitors.

Inter Milan forward Mauro Icardi scores on Panenka-style penalty for the equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Napoli in Serie A on Sunday. Ciro Fusco / EPA / March 8, 2015

Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi shrugged off unwanted laser pen attention to beat Napoli keeper Mariano Andujar from the spot with a cheeky "Panenka" to help secure a 2-2 draw for his club on Sunday.

Dominant Napoli looked to have wrapped up the win that would have taken them to within two points of AS Roma, in second at eight points adrift of leaders Juventus in Serie A, after second-half goals by Marek Hamsik and Gonzalo Higuain.

But Roberto Mancini’s men, who survived a first-half onslaught only thanks to goalkeeper Samir Handanovic, were handed a lifeline when Rodrigo Palacio reduced the deficit on 72 minutes.

Icardi then levelled the game from the spot three minutes from time after Palacio was hauled down by Henrique as he ran down on goal.

The last time Inter beat Napoli at the San Paolo stadium was in 1997 when the hosts suffered a 2-0 reverse.

But a month after Higuain struck in a 1-0 win over Inter to fire Napoli into the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup) semis, the club were in no mood for seeing that record broken.

Napoli dominated from the outset and should have gone in for the break several goals to the good as Inter’s forwards failed to spark.

Within the opening quarter hour Dries Mertens fired a header wide of Handanovic’s upright and a Higuain rocket from 12 metres out forced the visiting keeper into a great one-handed save.

Higuain twice tested Handanovic’s reflexes either side of a promising snap shot from Hamsik.

Inter’s chances until then came from an audacious shot by Fredy Guarin from inside his own half, which sailed over, while Marcelo Brozovic curled just wide of post and bar after Palacio’s lay-off.

Higuain spurned another chance just after the half hour, his right boot making just glancing contact with Mertens’s delightful floated delivery from the left of the area on a Napoli counter.

Inter resumed in similarly gloomy fashion after the restart when they gave away possession twice in succession, but both Mertens and Hamsik wasted their respective efforts in front of goal.

Hamsik made amends for his miss moments later when he was left alone to send a glancing header past Handanovic from Henrique’s delivery from the right.

The goal woke Inter from their slumber and Icardi, practically invisible for most of the game, jumped high to meet Xherdan Shaqiri’s cross from the right only to see his header go a foot wide of Andujar’s upright.

Higuain’s frustrating night came to an end on 64 minutes when he curled the ball superbly around Handanovic and in off the post to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

Napoli, however, paid for some late nerves.

Palacio fired past Andujar as the keeper lay stranded following a tussle with Guarin to bring Inter within a goal on 72 minutes. When Henrique dragged the Argentinian back by the shoulder, the referee pointed to the spot and gave the Brazilian his marching orders.

Napoli fans targeted Icardi with green laser pens as he waited to take the penalty, but the Argentinian responded in style, firing a Panenka-style chip straight down the middle as Andujar dived to his right.

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