Scott McTominay Champions League blow as Scotland pal helps sink Napoli to delay £38m Man Utd move

Second-placed Napoli would have secured qualification for Uefa's top tier competition for a second year running with two games to spare had they secured a victory at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium on Monday night.

That is because Antonio Conte's outfit would have secured a top four finish by moving six points ahead of fifth-placed Roma with a better record in their head-to-head matches - the first determining tiebreaker in the Italian top flight.

However, Bologna had other ideas with Lewis Ferguson starting for the visitors and captaining them to a 3-2 victory over his Scotland international colleagues, which came courtesy of a stoppage time winner from Jonathan Rowe after Napoli had fought back from two goals down.

The defeat also delays confirmation of Manchester United loanee Rasmus Hojlund's permanent transfer to the Naples outfit as confirmation of a top-four finish will automatically trigger the £38m obligation to buy the Danish striker from the Old Trafford club.

Napoli were stunned after 10 minutes when Federico Bernardeschi fired a rocket into the top corner to give the visitors the lead. McTominay was inches from equalising on the half-hour mark when he steered a header wide of the target from a corner kick.

The Rossoblù then doubled their advantage from the penalty spot after 34 minutes. VAR intervened to award the spot-kick after Juan Miranda was fouled by Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Riccardo Orsolini duly converted from 12 yards.

Napoli pulled one back in first half stoppage time when Di Lorenzo rifled home from close-range and the hosts were level within three minutes of the restart when Hojlund set up Santos to make it 2-2.

The momentum was now with last season's Serie A champions - who lost out on retaining their title to Inter Milan - and Gilmour was brought off the bench in the 76th minute to assist the push for a winner.

But Bologna, who withdrew Ferguson in the 81st minute, caught the Azzurri with a late sucker punch thanks to an acrobatic finish from Englishman Rowe. Remarkably, it was the first Bologna victory in Serie A with Ferguson in the starting line-up since November 9.

Napoli remain three points clear of Roma with two matches remaining with the quest for Champions League qualification now moving on to a visit to already-relegated Pisa on Sunday. The win for Bologna moved them up two positions to eighth in the Serie A table but they are no longer in contention for the European spots.