Juventus vs Napoli: The Old Lady almost lost in their home

Match preview

Juventus and Napoli are both sitting at the top of the 2021-22 Serie A table. Juventus are in the race to the top four, while Napoli are quite confident with their current third standing. However, their recent form has not been that good. 

Napoli even lost to other clubs that are judged much inferior to them, including Empoli and Spezia in recent Serie A games. Massimiliano Allegri definitely wants to take this advantage to gain three more points at the Juventus Stadium and climb to the higher position. 

Line-up

• Juventus: Szczęsny, Sandro (De Sciglio 75'), Rugani, De Ligt, Cuadrado, Rabiot (Bentancur 66'), Locatelli, McKennie, Morata (Kean 75'), Bernardeschi (Dybala 66'), Chiesa (Kulusevski 81')
• Napoli: Ospina, Jesus, Ghoulam, De Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Demme, Zielinski, Lobotka (Zanoli 90'+2), Mertens (Petagna 89'), Insigne, Politano (Elmas 76')

The visitors took the lead in the first half

Juventus took the advantage of their home ground to raise their squad and put pressure on Napoli's side. Right in the third minute of the game, Federico Chiesa had a dangerous shot but the ball went across the goal instead of piercing it. The visitors turned out to have more great chances and they literally surprised Juve.

The Belgian striker Dries Mertens scored the opening goal for Napoli in the 23rd minute with the assist of Politano. It was a hard corner shot that the Juventus goalkeeper couldn’t handle.    

Dries Mertens scored the opening goal for Napoli against Juventus

After getting the first goal, Napoli started to ease their pace and played more firmly. This made Juventus unable to equalize the score in the first half. 

Until the 54th minute, Federico Chiesa finally brought the first goal for the home club and equalized the score with a left-footed shot that made the stadium explode. Massimiliano Allegri’s club pushed all attempts to turn the table and become the winner of the game within the last minutes of the second half.  

Federico Chiesa finally scored for Juventus to equalize the score

However, on the day that some key goal machines like Bernardeschi, Morata, Moise Kean, or Dybala couldn’t nail their shots, it was quite hard for the home club to get the victory. 

The official minutes and stoppage time ended with a 1-1 draw for Juventus and Napoli. This has become the sixth unbeaten game in a row of Juventus, with four wins and two draws. 

Updated 2021-22 Serie A table  

This game ended up with a draw for Juventus and Napoli. Their standings were not changed after the match. Napoli are still the third-ranked club with 40 points. They have six points fewer than the table-leading team, Inter Milan. However, Simone Inzaghi’s students have played one game fewer than Napoli, so they totally have a great chance to increase the gap with the lower-ranked clubs.

Juventus are standing in the fifth position with 35 points. They have three points fewer than Atalanta, the fourth-placed team. But Atalanta’s 20th matchday was suspended due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic within their club. This means if they are the winning team in their 20th game, the difference of points will be widened. 

Juventus are in the race to the top four of the 2021-22 Serie A, but they need a lot more effort and even luck because other clubs around their standing are chasing closely. 

2021-22 Serie A table

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References

Wikipedia

Betimate.com

Vavel.com

Theathletic.com