Juventus: 3 key battles to watch against Napoli on Matchday 22
Juventus will travel to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on Saturday evening to face Napoli, having already defeated the Azzurri in the Supercoppa Italiana by a score of 2-0. Napoli are never an easy team to face, so the third-place Bianconeri will need to be at their best to pick up a positive result after eliminating Inter Milan on Tuesday in the Coppa Italia semifinals.
The Bianconeri are currently riding a hot streak, as they are unbeaten in their last seven matches since a Serie A defeat to Inter. Last weekend, they defeated Roma 2-0 in Serie A after drawing them 2-2 at the Stadio Olimpico earlier this season, so they will like their chances at Napoli.
Let’s take a look at three key individual battles to watch, using the expected formations from Sky Sport Italia.
Juventus CB Leonardo Bonucci vs. Napoli LW Chucky Lozano
Based on the formation projected by Sky Sport Italia, Juventus will roll with a back three against Napoli, which means Leonardo Bonucci will have a lot of ground to cover defensively against left winger Chucky Lozano, who will be his team’s leading scorer on Saturday with Lorenzo Insigne expected to be on the bench.
Lozano is having a career year in Serie A with nine goals thus far, showing the scoring touch we saw at PSV. The 25-year-old is just getting started here in his second season with the Azzurri, and he will be a handful for Juve’s defense.
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Bonucci has bounced back recently, and he’ll need to put together another strong performance on Matchday 22 against this dangerous wide forward.
Juventus CM Adrien Rabiot vs. Napoli CM Diego Demme
German international Diego Demme is a solid screening midfielder for Napoli and plays an important role for the Azzurri in the center of the pitch. Meanwhile, Adrien Rabiot could be an important player for Juventus, but he isn’t fully establishing himself in the starting XI.
Rabiot can help his case by winning what should be a physical battle with Demme. Both players will go head-to-head in the tackle, but the key for Rabiot will be getting the better end of Demme offensively. He has a lot more technical quality and attacking upside than Demme, but we haven’t really seen it in 2020-2021. The man doesn’t even have an assist this season.
Juventus FW Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Napoli’s CBs
Napoli won’t have Kostas Manolas or Kalidou Koulibaly available on Matchday 22. The former is out with an injury, while the latter has tested positive for COVID-19. Together, they comprise one of Serie A’s best center back duos, and there is a clear downgrade in backups Nikola Maksimovic and Amir Rrahmani.
Cristiano Ronaldo could light them up. He’s only scored once in his last four Serie A matches, but you get the feeling he could even score a hat trick in this road matchup if the center backs don’t step up for Napoli. They will be tested frequently by the striker partnership of Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata, as the former Real Madrid men have shown wonderful chemistry together in Turin.
Next. 3 keys to Juventus winning Serie A. dark
Ronaldo has six Serie A braces this season, with the last one coming on Jan. 4 to start the year against Udinese. Juventini will be looking forward to the No. 7 bagging his seventh on Matchday 22 in Napoli.