Defender Federico Gatti on Friday grabbed his second goal in as many matches as Juventus saw out a 1-0 home win against champions SSC Napoli to go top of Serie A.
The centreback rose highest shortly after the break to nod in the only goal of a closely contested match between two of Italy’s soccer powerhouses.
Victory in Turin sent Juventus to top spot on the table, although Inter had the chance to restore their two-point lead when they hosted Udinese yesterday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Winning this evening was very important, because we put Napoli at minus-12 and that is a great result,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri told DAZN.
“As for dreams and the Scudetto, we need to keep improving step by step, especially when we make too many mistakes,” he added.
Fifth-placed Napoli had the better of the opening exchanges and looked the more likely side to break the deadlock in the first half.
Matteo Politano fizzed one just past the Juve goal on nine minutes and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had the best early chance just before the half-hour mark.
Excellent hold-up play by Victor Osimhen sucked in the hosts’ defense before he squared to his Georgian teammate, who uncharacteristically snatched at the chance and ballooned it over the bar.
Then, 11 minutes later Giovanni di Lorenzo looked certain to open the scoring after a defensive mix-up, but Wojciech Szczesny flew off his line to make a fine one-handed save to keep things level.
The home team started the second half strongly and Dusan Vlahovic rattled the post on 49 minutes, following good play by Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie.
Two minutes later, Andrea Cambiaso collected a Napoli clearance and swung the ball into the box and onto the forehead of Gatti, whose towering header at the back post was enough to separate the sides.
It was the 25-year-old’s second consecutive winning goal for Juventus, after his 94th-minute strike at AC Monza on Friday last week.
Szczesny nearly turned villain when his miss was headed back to Osimhen who stole in ahead of the goalkeeper before rolling the ball into an empty net, only to be denied by the linesman’s flag with 20 minutes remaining.
Despite Napoli pressure at the end, the Old Lady held on comfortably to see out the victory.
Napoli coach Walter Mazzarri nonetheless saw positives in the defeat.
“The lads played a great game, I think they dominated the match, forced Juventus to defend in their own area for almost the entire second half,” he said.
However, Gatti’s third goal of the season, the most of any Serie A defender this term, remained the difference as Napoli endured already their fifth loss of the campaign, one more than they had last season.
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