Federico Gatti was Juventus’ hero as the Bianconeri defeated Napoli tonight, returning to the top of Serie A.
Some people claim that Juve is too afraid to play attacking football and to attack their opponents, but that wasn’t the case in this game.
From the beginning, the Bianconeri threatened Walter Mazzarri’s side, and the game was very open.
Both defences had to be at their best to constantly thwart the other team’s attack, and that continued for most of the first half.
Juve had the better XG, more goal attempts, and more shots on target in that first half, but the teams could not be separated.
The Bianconeri continued to threaten Napoli at the start of the second half and got their reward when Gatti scored six minutes after the break, thanks to a fine assist from Andrea Cambiaso. He is now the top-scoring defender in Serie A.
Juve is one of the hardest teams to break down, and once they had their noses in front, Napoli knew it would be hard to score.
That was the case as the Bianconeri defended well and ensured Napoli found little joy from attacking them.
Max Allegri’s men did not have much appetite to attack during the second half and were content to allow Napoli to have most of the ball, but the Partenopei could not find a goal.
This was a masterclass from Max Allegri, he set the team up perfectly, had them attack when required and defended with their lives when they needed to.
Juve earns another narrow victory and continues to march toward winning the title.
Congratulations to the Bianconeri on the win over Napoli. Beside the dreadful lapse in Szczesny’s concentration and the lack of goals from the strikers, the overall game play reflected an improved performance. Quite compact closing down spaces and recovering balls, the alertness on the break, switching the weight of attack from side to side gave Napoli a hard time. It’s about building a formidable team with an effective style of play and good understanding of the game on the pitch, top four finish is could be an underestimation of Juve may achieve at the end of the season.