🇮🇹 Napoli's thrashing of Juventus means the Scudetto is in sight | OneFootball

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It was the result that no-one had predicted.

After seven wins on the spin and seven consecutive clean sheets, Juventus were right back in the title race and taking on a Napoli side who had slipped up against Inter in the first game back after the World Cup break.

Friday night’s Serie A special was supposed to be a closely-matched battle between an airtight defence and a deadly attack.

It turned out to be the evening when Max Allegri’s tactics and team were brutally exposed.

Saturday’s Italian papers praised a “stellar” Napoli side with “martians” Victor Osimhen and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in attack.

Yet, in truth, their opponents sat so deep, with all eleven men behind the ball, that they invited the home side to show what they could do.

Napoli duly obliged.

The tactics that had earned Juve narrow 1-0 victories over Udinese and Cremonese would and did not wash in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

“Their legs were moving faster than ours, that is true,” admitted Juventus defender Danilo after the match. “Napoli are a very strong side when they have room to run at you and we should’ve been more intelligent in dealing with those situations.”

That confident win — combined with a disappointing 2-2 draw with Lecce for Milan — puts Napoli nine points clear and firmly in the driving seat to lift the Scudetto for the first time since they did so with Maradona back in 1990.

And elsewhere …

Highlights available in UK and Ireland only

Milan slipped up in their bid to retain the Serie A title with a disappointing 2-2 draw at Lecce. The Rossoneri now sit nine points behind leaders Napoli, but in actual fact their weekend could’ve been worse as the Milanese giants had to rely on goals from Rafael Leão and Davide Calabria to rescue a point after the home side had raced to a shocking initial 2-0 lead.

Atalanta have not looked themselves at times this season, but returned to their rampant best in some style with an 8-2 win over Salernitana. Former Everton man Ademola Lookman bagged a brace, and the other six goals were each netted by six different goalscorers as La Dea scored eight in a Serie A match for the first time in their history.

José Mourinho was an unusually demure figure on the touchline during Roma’s 2-0 win over Fiorentina on Sunday, admitting afterwards that he was making a concerted effort to avoid another sending off. His side were none the poorer for it, as two goals from Paulo Dybala sealed the victory to put the Giallorossi level on points with Lazio in fifth.

😱 Goal of the Weekend

When you’re already 5-1 up with less than an hour played, you can start to get a little more ambitious with your shots.

Which is exactly what Ademola Lookman did when he took the time to turn and shoot from a central position just outside the box, and his strike was an absolute screamer.

That takes the 25-year-old Englishman’s tally to nine goals in 12 starts for Atalanta, since making the move to Serie A from Premier League side Leicester in the summer.

🥇 Player of the Weekend

21-year-old sensation Khvicha Kvaratskhelia stole the show as Napoli ran riot over Juventus. The Georgia international scored one of the five goals while providing two of the assists for the other four on a night where the Neapolitans truly showed their credentials for the title this season.

The man they call ‘Kvaradona’ has proved to be a huge part of Luciano Spalletti’s success this term after joining Napoli in the summer for a bargain fee of only €10m, and has now contributed seven goals and seven assists in domestic action.

With performances like the one on Friday night, it’s really no wonder he’s being constantly linked with a big-money move away.