Juve and Napoli play out goalless draw in early Serie A title tussle

A fiercely contested, but far from exciting contest at the Allianz Stadium in Turin ended with Juventus maintaining their unbeaten start to life under Thiago Motta. Juve are yet to concede in Serie A this season but their third consecutive league stalemate denied them top spot, currently held by local rivals Torino following their 3-2 win at Verona on Friday.

Torino are a point ahead of Udinese, who are at Roma on Sunday afternoon, and third-placed Napoli, while Juve are a further point back in fourth. Napoli coach Conte, a winner of eight Serie A titles and the 1996 Champions League in 16 years with Juve as player and coach, was reserved a low key welcome by his former supporters.

Conte had been back to Turin as Inter Milan coach but during the Covid-19 pandemic when fans were not present in the stadium. And his team did a fine job of shutting the match down while also creating the two best chances of an underwhelming match either side of half-time, with Michele Di Gregorio pulling off a fine save from Matteo Politano who also slammed over shortly after the break.

Before kick-off fans remembered Toto Schillaci, the former Juve striker who became a national hero by scoring six times for Italy at the 1990 World Cup. Schillaci died on Wednesday at the age of 59 after suffering from bowel cancer. That moment of remembrance was unfortunately ruined by some Napoli supporters in the away end, who were loudly whistled by home supporters after yelling out insults.

There was little goalmouth action once the match got underway, with the first real chance not coming until stoppage time when Di Gregorio did brilliantly to tip away Politano's free-kick as it whizzed past Romelu Lukaku's head. Politano was in the thick it again nine minutes after the break when he cut inside and fizzed a curling shot just over the bar.

That was the last major incident of a match as both teams seem happy to settle with a draw rather than risk defeat to a direct rival so early in the season. Earlier Venezia won their first match since being promoted, claiming a 2-0 home win over Genoa.

 

September 21, 2024