Juventus vs. Napoli 0-1: Match Report and Player Ratings
Napoli managed to claim all three points away to Juventus, keeping the Scudetto race alive. Here is the match report of the game, as well as the player ratings.
Surprisingly enough, Napoli actually took charge of the first half, dictating most of the tempo, while creating a few half-chances. Juventus overall looked a bit sluggish, although that could have been a tactical decision by Allegri, in other words, to sit back and let Napoli run the tempo.
The first half didn’t offer many chances and almost none in favour of the home side, except a Pjanic free-kick off the post. In fact, Napoli came close to taking the lead, as Hamsik received the ball in the box, left with only Buffon to beat. However, the midfielder failed to get his attempt on target from a tough angle.
The second half picked up where the first half left off, with Juventus still sitting back, allowing Napoli to control possession. Despite this, Napoli failed to impose any sort of danger to the Juventus defence, with Höwedes and Benatia doing really well at the back.
In fact, we had to wait until the 90th minute before the deadlock was broken. After a dangerous Insigne cross forced Buffon to parry the ball out for a corner, Callejon managed to find Koulibaly in the box. The Senegalese defender made no mistakes with a powerful header, 1-0 to Napoli, a goal which secured all three points for Napoli.
The Partenopei are now just one point behind Juventus in the league, keeping their Scudetto dream well alive.
Player Ratings - Juventus
Buffon: 6
Höwedes: 7
Benatia: 7
Chiellini: N/A (Lichtsteiner: 5)
Asamoah: 6
Khedira: 6
Pjanic: 7
Matuidi: 5.5
Dybala: 5 (Cuadrado: 6)
Higuain: 5.5
Costa: 5.5 (Mandzukic: 6)
Player Ratings – Napoli
Reina: 6
Hysaj: 5.5
Albiol: 6
Koulibaly: 8 - MOTM
Mario Rui: 6
Allan: 5.5 (Rog: N/A)
Jorginho: 6.5
Hamsik: 7 (Zielinski: 6)
Callejon: 7
Mertens: 5 (Milik: 5.5)
Insigne: 7