Napoli 2-1 Juventus: Talking points as Napoli all but end Juventus Scudetto aspirations

Napoli beat Juventus at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Sunday in the 27th round of the Serie A season by 2-1.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia opened the scoring for the home side with a fine volley in the 42nd minute, and when Federico Chiesa restored parity in the 81st, it seemed the Old Lady would return to Turin with a point. However, a reckless tackle from Juventus substitute Joseph Nonge on Victor Osimhen resulted in a penalty for Napoli, and after Wojciech Szczesny saved the Nigerian’s spot-kick, Giacomo Raspadori was the quickest to react and win the game for his team.

The game

Napoli mostly dominated and kept the ball in the opposition half from the start, finishing the game with 71% of possession, but in the first period of the contest they were actually lucky not to go down on several occasions as Juventus created more in front of Alex Meret’s goal.

Luck particularly served Francesco Calzona’s team in the 10th minute, when Mathias Olivera lost the ball in his own half and Chiesa found Dusan Vlahovic completely unmarked at some 10 yards from the goal – the Serbian’s header went inches wide of the post, with Meret unable to do anything but watch.

The first real sign of danger at the other end took another 14 minutes, when Mateo Politano broke down the right and whipped in a cross. A mishit from Hamed Traore fell rather kindly for Giovanni Di Lorenzo, but the Napoli captain couldn’t find the target with a half-volley from 13 or 14 yards. In the 27th minute, Szczesny fumbled a Politano free-kick at the feet of Frank Zambo Anguissa, but the Juventus goalkeeper recovered in time to prevent the Napoli midfielder from tapping in.

Much like Di Lorenzo at the other end, Illing Junior missed the target with a half-volley four minutes later for Juventus. In the 34th minute, Juventus broke through the Napoli lines far too easily and Chiesa created another great chance for Vlahovic, whose clever chip over Meret hit the post. Another four…

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Author : Veselin Trajkovic

Publish date : 2024-03-04 10:38:12

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