26.01.2020 » Napoli 2-1 Juventus. Not even Ronaldo avoided defeat
Juventus have fallen again in the Serie A this Sunday night, in a tough trip to Naples to face the local side, Napoli. The Italian champions were defeated 2-1 and they can only blame themselves for the poor performance and result achieved in the San Paolo. Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, extended his scoring streak to 8 consecutive games for Juventus, but his goal tonight was insufficient to change the fate of the game and Napoli were certainly happy to take the 3 points and move up a couple spots on the table. Piotr Zielinski and Insigne scored a goal each for the home side...
Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Napoli vs Juventus
Napoli 2-1 Juventus - Goals and highlights:
All Cristiano Ronaldo actions vs Napoli:
The "old" Napoli returned...
Maurizzio Sarri was surely expecting difficulties in his visit to his former club this weekend, as Juventus visted Napoli with the hosts desperately needing to collect some points in order to improve their league table position this season. Nevertheless, the Bianconeri were still surprised by a revigorated side, extremely motivated for a match against the reigning champions and against a manager who left his mark at the club between 2015 and 2018.
Napoli's season so far has been far from acceptable for the Azzurri fans, especially in terms of their Serie A campaign. With 7 wins, 6 draws and 8 losses in the league after tonight's game, the Sicilian side is currently sitting in the 12th position, 24 points below the league leaders, Juventus.
Juventus, on the other hand, are leading the Serie A and despite a few hiccups here and there like the loss against Lazio in the Italian SuperCoppa, they still aspire to win every competition they're in right now.
Following Inter Milan and Lazio draws earlier this Sunday, Juventus had a golden chance to increase the point gap towards their title rivals this season. Winning in Naples would have meant going 6 points on top of Inter Milan and 8 points above Lazio, even though the Roman side still has one game in hand. However, things didn't go the way the Vecchia Signora wanted and this weekend's loss left them with a short distance lead and the title race open for the 3 clubs.
Ronaldo's goal wasn't enough...
Napoli managed to control Juventus like few teams in the league are capable of. To illustrate this fact, we only need to realize that the Sicilian side were the first this season to reach half-time against Juventus without having conceded a single shot on target to their opponents...
The goals, however, would only arrive in the second half. The opener took place in the 63rd minute, when Lorenzo Insigne decided to try his luck from long range and forced Szczesny to drop the ball to a dangerous area. That allowed Zielinski to chase the rebound and finish to an empty net, giving the home side the much-wanted lead in this game.
Juventus then reacted and started risking a bit more when Sarri decided to replace Matuidi for Douglas Costa, but the hosts would be the ones scoring again later in the game, in the 86th minute. This time, Callejón assisted Insigne with a great cross and the Italian forward finished it off with a perfect volley to beat Szczesny for the second time on the night. It was Insigne's fourth goal in the league this season, which somehow also helps explaining why Napoli's campaign has been so poor so far...
With the game pretty much decided, Juventus still found a way to at least score a goal in this match, even though it wouldn't change anything in terms of how the points were going to be splitted tonight. Bentancur found Cristiano Ronaldo moving into the space behind Di Lorenzo's back and the Portuguese forward only needed one touch to anticipate Meret and push the ball to back of the net. 2-1 for Napoli and the title race in Italy is on fire!
Juventus line-up vs Napoli:
Goalkeeper: Szczesny
Defenders: Alex Sandro, Bonucci, De Ligt, Cuadrado
Midfielders: Bentancur, Matuidi, Pjanic
Attackers: Dybala, Cristiano Ronaldo, Higuaín.
Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
|
||
|---|---|---|
Napoli
|
vs
|
Juventus
|
2 |
Goals |
1 |
15 |
Shots |
8 |
4 |
Shots on goal |
4 |
3 |
Corner kicks |
2 |
14 |
Fouls commited |
14 |
2 |
Yellow cards |
5 |
0 |
Red cards |
0 |
51% |
Ball possession |
49% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Juventus in the Serie A is on February 2, against Fiorentina. You can watch Juventus vs Fiorentina, Zaragoza vs Real Madrid, West Ham vs Liverpool, Aston Villa vs Leicester City, Bournemouth vs Arsenal, and AC Milan vs Torino, all matches provided from our live football game pages.
Juventus next game:
Juventus vs Fiorentina kick-off time (02-02-2020):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 19:30
Jakarta (Indonesia) | UTC/GMT+7: 18:30
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 17:00
Italy (Turin) | UTC/GMT+1: 12:30
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 12:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 11:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 08:30
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 07:30
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 04:30
Sources: ronaldo7.net / juventus.com / 90min.com / goal.com
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