Juventus Win Send Napoli Deeper Into Crisis

Last October, a high-flying Napoli heaped misery on Juventus as they turned 0-1 into a 2-1 victory at the Stadio San Paolo, sending the Bianconeri into crisis whilst casting serious doubts on Claudio Ranieri’s future at the helm of the club.

The tables had turned this time around as a first-half Marchisio strike at the Stadio Olimpico in Turin saw Juventus grab a 1-0 over the Naples club, thus sending Napoli deep into crisis while at the same time leaving coach Edy Reja’s future up for debate.

First half

7. Juventus started dominating early in the game and the first chance was created by the home side as Claudio Marchisio’s diagonal cross which was aimed towards David Trezeguet was intercepted by Fabiano Santacroce.

The defender intended to head the ball into the waiting hands of goalkeeper Nicolas Navarro, but instead the Azzurrini star nearly headed home an own goal.

11. Alessandro Del Piero cut into the box from the right-hand side trying to curl in another trademark goal, but his left-foot effort was tipped over the bar by Navarro.

15. Juventus came close to breaking the deadlock after Marco Marchionni whipped in a cross ball from his right flank to a charging Trezeguet. The Frenchman shot right at Navarro who parried the shot, but the rebound landed in front of Sebastian Giovinco who then shot over the bar.

17. By the time the home side won a free-kick 25 yards from Napoli’s goal, it was one-way traffic as the Bianconeri had dominated the game through and through. Del Piero’s magnificent effort was only overshadowed by Navarro’s even more overwhelmingly save.

24. Luigi Vitale was just one of many Napoli players that were giving the ball away rather cheaply, – a trait that had come to dominate the visiting side’s style of play during Saturday evening.

30. Marchionni whipped another perfect cross into the box, but Santacroce marked Trezeguet well and headed away the immediate danger.

37. On a Napoli counter attack, German Denis back heeled the ball beautifully to Marek Hamsik, but Gianluigi Buffon pushed the Slovakian out of angle before he could try out his luck and only managed to his the outside of the side netting. The visiting side’s best chance during the first half.

43. Marchisio gave Juventus a well-deserved lead when Christian Poulsen fed the ball to the midfielder in the center of the field as he went on to unleash a shot from roughly 25 yards that deflected off former Juventus player Manuele Blasi before it went into the net.

Half time

During the half time break, the Juventus youth team received applause for winning the prestigious Tropeo Viareggio tournament.

Second half

46. Edy Reja made the first change of the match by making way for Jesús Dátolo by taking off Francesco Montervino who has been rather anonymous during the first half.

52. Del Piero was taken down harshly by Blasi and was very lucky to escape a booking. In the following minutes, Trezeguet came tantalizingly close to heading home a 2-0 lead to Juventus.

62. Ranieri sacrificed Giovinco, who until then had played well below par for Hasan Salihamidzic, as the Georgian made his comeback after a rather lengthy injury spell.

68. With roughly 20 minutes left of the game Ranieri decided to make his second substitution for the evening by taking off Del Piero in order to put in Amauri.

69. A Ezequiel Lavezzi free kick saw Denis and Buffon going for the same ball and as the latter punched away the danger, he bumped into Nicola Legrottaglie. The centre back had to receive treatment before he could stand up, but it didn’t take long before Legrottaglie realized that he couldn’t continue and therefore had to make way for Olof Mellberg.

78. With less than 15 minutes left to play, Edy Reja made a double substitution as Michele Pazienza and Luigi Vitale made way for Andrea Russatto and Salvatore Aronica in Napoli’s quest for the equalizer.

85. The Azzurri players were feebly pushing forward towards the closing stages of the game and received a corner. The danger was, however, cleared by Amauri. By this time, the Juventus players were tracking back in order to keep their slim lead intact.

88. Napoli received another free kick in a dangerous area that Dátolo then whipped into the box. The linesman raised his flag for offside, a narrow case, whereas referee Ayroldi immediately blew the whistle. Half a second later, Lavezzi managed to squeeze the ball past Buffon and into the back of the net, but the goal was disallowed.

92. Things heated up quite a bit during the stoppages as the frustration from the visiting side started to take the upper hand. Ranieri was also furious about a foul and was seen screaming out his discontent, but luckily the Juventus tactician managed to escape the marching orders.

94. Napoli had another chance as a clearly frustrated Giorgio Chiellini fouled Denis and was shown the yellow card for his troubles. However, Buffon calmly saw out the resulting free kick. There was to yet another fruitless free kick from visitors before referee Ayroldi blew the whistle to end an enthralling affair.

Juventus: Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie (72’ Mellberg), Chiellini, Molinaro; Marchionni, Poulsen, Marchisio, Giovinco (63’ Salihamidzic); Trezeguet, Del Piero (68’ Amauri). Coach: Ranieri.

Napoli: Navarro; Santacroce, Cannavaro, Contini; Montervino (46’ Datolo), Pazienza (78’ Russotto), Blasi, Hamsik, Vitale (78’ Aronica); Denis, Lavezzi. Coach: Reja.

Goals: 44’ Marchisio (Juventus)