Napoli vs Juventus 2-1: Politano Shines in Second Half Comeback | OneFootball

If it still was not clear, Napoli mean business in Serie A. The Partenopei‘s second half comeback on Saturday resulted in Juventus’ first league loss this season as Napoli defended their top spot in the table from Inter’s potential assaults. It ended 2-1 at the Diego Maradona Stadium as André-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s strike and Romelu Lukaku’s converted spot kick canceled Randal Kolo Muani’s first half goal on his debut day for Juve.

The former PSG man’s performance was the positive piece of news for Thiago Motta today, together with Juve’s aggressive approach in the first half. However, the Bianconeri paid a hefty price for sitting on their lead after Kolo Muani drew first blood. Napoli turned things around in the space of 12 minutes after the restart, inflicting the Old Lady their sixth loss in a row at the Maradona.

Antonio Conte’s side showed they absorbed quite well Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s shocking departure. As they wait for news to come from the transfer market arena, they relied on their regular men to catch a key win along the way of a fourth Scudetto. Today, on top of Anguissa and Lukaku’s winning efforts, they benefited from dominating performances by Matteo Politano and goalkeeper Alex Meret, who kept his side afloat in the early stages with a brilliant save from Kenan Yildiz.

It was just five minutes after kick off when Meret stretched his arms to push back the Turkish starlet’s close-range shot. Yildiz was picked by Khéphren Thuram and dribbled past Leonardo Spinazzola before firing the ball at Napoli’s seemingly untended goal. Meret was down, flat on his side, but still managed to defuse the threat showing some great reflexes.

Napoli woke up only on 20 minutes as Giovanni Di Lorenzo sent the ball in from the left side, forcing Federico Gatti to clear it almost on the goal line. Politano pounced on the rebound but his strike went wide away.

Juventus’ goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio risked a lot as his pass for Manuel Locatelli on the edge of the box was almost intercepted by Scott McTominay. The Bianconeri captain had to use all his experience to maintain possession and save the day for Thiago Motta. Napoli challenged the Juve goalie twice more, but Stanislav Lobotka’s effort from long range sailed past the crossbar, while Anguissa’s header also ended off target. Antonio Conte’s side pushed and pressed a lot but their chances only came from afar.

Juventus, on the other hand, were more cynical and found the back of the net on 43 minutes. Anguissa tried to anticipate Teun Koopmeiners on the edge of the box but the result was an unintentional assist for Kolo Muani who was lurking in the middle of the area. The Frenchman volleyed the ball past Meret to open his scoring account in Serie A right on his debut day.

The second period opened with 30 seconds of showtime: First, McTominay tried an acrobatic overhead. Then, it was Di Gregorio to steal the spotlight as he palmed away a Lukaku header, pushing the ball back a split second before it would cross past the goal line. However, he could not do anything a few minutes later, when Anguissa headed it home with perfect timing from a Politano cross, making it 1-1.

Politano was on fire and soon tried turning from provider into finisher, finding his shot deflected in corner by Andrea Cambiaso. But Napoli were now in control, taking advantage of Juventus’ tender approach in the second half.

On 69 minutes, Lukaku served McTominay in the middle of the box with a clinical pass through. Locatelli was caught my surprise and literally collapsed on the Scotsman, prompting the referee to point at the penalty spot with no hesitation. Lukaku’s conversion was not phenomenal, a central shot after a short run-up, but it was still enough to send Di Gregorio the wrong way and tally his 200th goal between the Premier League and the Serie A.

Thiago Motta made us of all his possible changes, also conceding his declining starlet Dusan Vlahovic a few minutes of playtime, but Juve never came close to finding an equalizer. Conversely, it was Napoli that risked adding a third one to their tally with Giovanni Simeone.

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