Juventus fell to another defeat on Saturday evening as they surrendered a goal advantage to lose to Napoli 2-1 in Naples.
Juventus opened the scoring against the run of play as Alvaro Morata slotted calmly past David Ospina after pouncing on an inexplicable Kostas Manolas error. Napoli responded well, however, before upping the ante in the second period.
They sustained pressure superbly and eventually got their reward by way of another Wojciech Szczesny error, who allowed Matteo Politano to tap in from close range after spilling Lorenzo Insgine’s effort. The hosts continued to pin Juve back, and they got a late winner through an unlikely source.
Kalidou Koulibaly was in the right place at the right time to convert Szczesny’s superb parry. The defender’s late strike would prove to be the winner.
Here are the Juventus player ratings from the defeat.
Goalkeeper & Defenders
Wojciech Szczesny (GK) – 3/10 – Another week, another Wojciech Szczesny howler. This time, the Polish international spilt Lorenzo Insigne’s effort into the path of Politano who equalised from a tight angle. He had to hold onto it. There was little he could do to deny Napoli’s second, mind, after initially doing well to keep out Moise Kean’s inadvertent effort.
Mattia De Sciglio (RB) – 6/10 – De Sciglio was superb against Insigne in the first half, smartly reading Napoli’s rotations down the flank and communicating well with Federico Bernardeschi to ensure Juve weren’t compromised Napoli’s left. However, he certainly struggled more when shifted over to the left following Pellegrini’s exit. Politano gave him plenty more to think about.
Leonardo Bonucci (CB) – 6/10 – A quiet outing for Bonucci. He defended the box well enough and typically worked well alongside his long-time partner. Juventus probably wanted more out of him in the build-up phase, though.
Giorgio Chiellini (CB) – 6/10 – The master explored plenty of his dark arts playbook to ensure the dangerous Victor Osimhen didn’t get his own way in this one. The Nigerian’s influenced increased as the contest wore on, but Chiellini dealt with him impressively for the most part.
Luca Pellegrini (LB) – 6/10 – A promising display from Pellegrini before he was forced off around the hour mark due to cramp. The dynamic Italian provided a crossing threat that we haven’t seen down the left flank in years, and he also defended astutely against the nimble Politano. He effectively showed the Napoli goalscorer onto his weaker right-foot when they matched up one-v-one.