Gatti on target as Juventus edge Napoli to go top of Serie A
With a chance to move ahead of Inter Milan tonight - albeit temporarily - Juventus were nevertheless wary of their opponents’ formidable record on their travels, and Napoli were comfortably in control of the play during the first exchanges.
In fact, they were unfortunate not to go ahead early, as Danilo almost glanced a cross into his own net before Matteo Politano drifted inside to send a curling shot brushing against the outside of the post.
Still finding their feet under Walter Mazzarri after Rudi Garcia’s dismissal, the Partenopei looked shaky at the back themselves, and Dusan Vlahovic would almost certainly have converted if not for an incredible block by Natan.
Federico Chiesa was beginning to cause serious problems for a defence that had conceded seven across the last two games, but the best chance of the half actually ended up going the way of the visitors.
Victor Osimhen raced into the channel on the right-hand side and squared to Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in acres of space, but Wojciech Szczesny did just about enough to put him off and see his attempt sail over.
The first half had seen just about everything but goals, and the Allianz Stadium crowd had only minutes of the second to wait for their side to edge ahead. Federico Gatti netted a last-gasp winner against Monza last time out, and the central defender stood tallest to masterfully direct Andrea Cambiaso’s cross in and make it two in two.
The most likely outlet for a Napoli response was of course their returning frontman Osimhen, and the Nigerian even had the ball in the net after he capitalised on a Szczesny mistake, but he was ruled just offside.
Despite some substitutions threatening to revitalise Napoli’s forward play, they struggled to create enough in the final stages and deservedly slumped to a first away defeat of the campaign.
The result puts them 12 points behind tonight’s opponents, who look like they could finally challenge for silverware after a three-season Scudetto drought.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Federico Gatti (Juventus)
