Juve Squeeze Past Napoli in Rescheduled Serie A Fixture
ROME (Reuters) - Paulo Dybala marked his return with a moment of magic as Juventus beat Napoli 2-1 in a high-profile rescheduled Serie A fixture.
The Bianconeri has been struggling recently as the defending champions suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to Benevento, followed by a 2-2 tie against city rivals Torino, so Andrea Pirlo’s coaching spot was in doubt while his counterpart Gennaro Gattuso’s future was also up in the air with Napoli’s shaky performance.
The game between Juventus and Napoli was set to kick off last October, but Napoli failed to make the trip to Turin due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Partenopei was originally handed a 3-0 defeat by default and docked one point, but the Coppa Italia holders won the appeal, so the fixture was postponed.
Leonardo Bonucci and Federico Bernardeschi were left out of Juve’s squad for contacting the virus, Gianluigi Buffon got a rare start between the sticks and Cristiano Ronaldo partnered Alvaro Morata up front while Lorenzo Insigne, Hirving Lozano and Dries Mertens led Napoli’s attacking trident.
The Bianconeri has been struggling recently as the defending champions suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to Benevento, followed by a 2-2 tie against city rivals Torino, so Andrea Pirlo’s coaching spot was in doubt while his counterpart Gennaro Gattuso’s future was also up in the air with Napoli’s shaky performance.
The game between Juventus and Napoli was set to kick off last October, but Napoli failed to make the trip to Turin due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Partenopei was originally handed a 3-0 defeat by default and docked one point, but the Coppa Italia holders won the appeal, so the fixture was postponed.
Leonardo Bonucci and Federico Bernardeschi were left out of Juve’s squad for contacting the virus, Gianluigi Buffon got a rare start between the sticks and Cristiano Ronaldo partnered Alvaro Morata up front while Lorenzo Insigne, Hirving Lozano and Dries Mertens led Napoli’s attacking trident.