Match Day 2 of The Italian Serie A witnessed an exciting Clash between Italian Giants Juventus and title contenders Napoli. This game was one of the first meetings of Italy’s top teams this early in the League competition. Played at the Juventus Stadium the game was an early-season contender for match of the season with its end-to-end pulsating action and frequency of goal scored. Newest Juventus import from Manchester City Danilo opened the scoring in the 16th minute when he finished off a flowing counter-attacking move to put the old lady ahead.
Juve continued with their early game dominance when Higuain added another goal in the 19th minute to double the Host advantage over Napoli 2 – 0 when Matuidi fed Gonzalo with a cross who expertly beat his man in the 18-yard box before poking the ball between the two central defenders into the roof of the net. Juventus were swarming all over Napoli at this time and will count themselves unlucky not to have to go into the break three goals ahead when Khedira’s lovely chipped ball bounced off the crossbar after an excellent passage of play.
Juventus continued where they left off in the first half when Ronaldo hit a lovely one-time ball past the goalkeeper in the 62nd minute after Douglas Costa’s excellent movement and Cross from the left provided the perfect assist for the Portuguese former Ballon d’Or winners the first goal of the season.
At that time, you would have been forgiven for thinking the game was done and dusted, but the Neapolitans had other ideas on their mind when in the 66th minute Napoli’s Greek striker Manolas pulled a goal back heading the ball in from close range. Napoli’s Resurgence continued as barely two minutes later they got their second goal of the game when Lozano stabbed the ball in from close range to unsettle the side from Turin.
The comeback was complete when in the 81st minute Di Lorenzo whipped in a lovely finish from a beautiful Cross of the right to level the scores at 3-3. However, there was still room for more drama when in the 90th minute Napoli Defender Koulibaly, unfortunately, kicks the ball into his own net from a Juventus free-kick outside the box sealing an unlikely 4-3 Victory in favor of the old lady. Carlo Ancelotti side will feel hard done by that they deserved at least a draw following their impressive comeback to level the match after going down 3-0 but have the confidence to build on going into the next round of matches.
As for Juventus, they continue to show good early season form leading the table with the maximum six points from two matches as we wait for the conclusion of Sunday’s other fixtures. Juventus are 1.40 to win the 2019 Serie A title outright.
Written by: Ayotunde Omolayole.
