Juventus moved three points clear at the top of the Serie A table thanks to a 3-1
victory over Napoli at the San Paolo.
With nearest challengers Roma held to a 2-2 draw by fierce rivals Lazio earlier on
Sunday, Massimiliano Allegri's men took full advantage at a tricky venue
historically.
Paul Pogba opened the scoring at the San Paolo, a venue where Juve had not won
since 2000, with a stunning volley in the 29th minute that marked his fifth goal of
the campaign.
Napoli levelled in the 64th minute thanks to defender Miguel Britos, but any hope of
the hosts completing the turnaround were dispelled by two further second-half
goals from Juve.
Martin Caceres - who had not featured for the Turin club since October due to a
thigh injury - restored Juve's lead in the 69th minute by turning home an Andrea
Pirlo free kick.
A Caceres own goal was chalked off and Napoli spurned a number of late chances
before Arturo Vidal slammed in a third in stoppage time to give Juve a measure of
revenge for their Supercoppa Italiana defeat to Rafael Benitez's side last month.
In an otherwise quiet start, Napoli wasted a gilt-edged chance to take the lead as
Jonathan de Guzman blazed over the crossbar from close range after Giorgio
Chiellini failed to clear.
Juventus had struggled to impose themselves on the game but took the lead in
magnificent fashion through Pogba.
Carlos Tevez's strike rebounded off Fernando Llorente and straight to the France
midfielder, who arced a superb first-time hit from the left-hand side of the area
into the bottom-right corner.
0 comments:
Post a Comment