Juventus won the top match from Napoli on Wednesday evening. Andrea Pirlo’s team had enough goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala: 2-1. It was a free crucial game for that la Vecchia Signora, which threatened to fall outside the places that entitle to Champions League football in the event of a loss. Now Juventus is climbing to third place, with a three-point lead over number five Napoli. At the same time, leader Internazionale won against Sassuolo (2-1), so i Nerazzurri eleven points ahead of number two AC Milan.
Juventus – Napoli 2-1
The game started with great opportunities on both sides. To his own frustration, Ronaldo first headed from close range from a cross by Danilo, then Piotr Zielinski shot high after good preparatory work by Lozano. Juventus took the lead within fifteen minutes. Federico Chiesa skilfully slalomed around Lorenzo Insigne and Elseid Hysaj? And put the ball low in front, allowing Ronaldo to finish the job: 1-0.
Real opportunities were not forthcoming in the remainder of the first half. Juventus did claim a penalty after a drastic sliding by Lozano on the ankles at Chiesa, while Napoli wanted a penalty for a small tap from Alex Sandro on Zielinski. In both cases, the referee didn’t like it. After the break, Napoli came out more attacking and soon a shooting opportunity for Giovanni Di Lorenzo followed. The right back shot straight at Buffon from an awkward angle.
?????????????????? ??? Cristiano Ronaldo makes his 25th of the season in the ‘top match’ against Napoli?#ZiggoSport #SerieA #JuventusNapoli pic.twitter.com/ukDUVaRvyT
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Juventus mainly had to rely on the quick counterattack, in which Juan Cuadrado shot high after a wide pass from Álvaro Morata. Insigne was threatened on the other side by cutting out De Ligt, but his shot in the short corner was caught by Buffon. The match was decided by Juventus in the 73rd minute. Paulo Dybala, cold four minutes in the field, got the ball in the penalty area and found the far bottom corner clever: 2-0. In the ninetieth minute, Insigne did something back for Napoli with a penalty, after Victor Osimhen was knocked out by Giorgio Chiellini: 2-1. That could be an important goal, because of the mutual result that is now in favor of Napoli (with an equal number of points after 38 games). De Ligt made another decisive save on a bet by Osimhen.
Internazionale – Sassuolo 2-1
Inter led 1-0 at half time, but nevertheless had to largely limit itself to defending in the first half. Sassuolo had a significant predominance of ball possession, 67 to 33 percent, and was particularly dominant in the phase shortly after the opening goal. Sassuolo was unable to create great opportunities, however, and so a hit by Romelu Lukaku made the difference for half-time: the striker came in front of his man in the tenth minute after a cross from Ashley Young from the left flank and nodded in the left corner.
Sassuolo, without the injured base customers Domenico Berardi and Gregoire Defrel, struggled to get through Inter’s tight defense after the break. Shortly after Sassuolo unsuccessfully claimed a penalty when Stefan de Vrij held onto Giacomo Raspadori’s shirt, Inter counterattacked and Lautaro Martínez hit diagonally from inside the penalty area with the left leg. Six minutes before the end, Hamed Traorè brought the tension back with a placed shot in the top right corner, but Sassuolo did not get any more opportunities. Substitute Alexis Sánchez failed to make it 3-1.