Napoli 3-1 Juventus

Posted Friday, March 26, 2010 by Goal.com

Napoli came from behind to beat Juventus 3-1 in Serie A, ending an eight-game winless run to overtake the Bianconeri in the race for European football next season.

Giorgio Chiellini gave Juve a seventh minute lead, but Hamsik headed home just three minutes after blazing over from the penalty spot. The Slovakian then delivered the cross from which Fabio Quagliarella turned into the back of the net 18 minutes from time before Ezequiel Lavezzi fired in a late clincher.

The main news for Juventus was the decision to start Diego from the bench as they reverted to an orthodox 4-4-2 formation. Napoli again started with Juan Zuniga starting from the left of midfield, with the usual pair of Walter Gargano and Michele Pazienza through the middle.

Napoli came closest in the opening minutes. Hamsik did well to spray the ball wide and Christian Maggio floated a dangerous ball over, which curled wickedly towards Alex Manninger's far post, but luckily for the Juventus 'keeper it was neither on target, nor directed towards a Napoli attacker.

But surprisingly, it was Juve who took the lead against the run of play in only the seventh minute. A free kick was crossed in from the right, Alessandro Del Piero got a flick on at the near post, and Paolo Cannavaro allowed Giorgio Chiellini a free run to the far post to head past Morgan De Sanctis from three yards out.

It was a massive boost for the Bianconeri, but they suffered a setback just two minutes later when Christian Poulsen was forced to limp off with an injury to his left leg. Alberto Zaccheroni made a like-for-like replacement, bringing on Antonio Candreva.

Maggio forced his way into another good position soon after, but his shot was easily blocked, and then after a poor challenge by Felipe Melo on Gargano, Gabriele Grava was booked for an equally mistimed tackle on substitute Candreva.

The early Juve goal had forced Napoli onto the attack, and Quagliarella attempted a snap-shot from 25 yards as the home side upped the pace, but Manninger was able to hold on to the low effort. Del Piero collected the game's second yellow card for using his forearm up against Grava as they chased a loose ball side-by-side.

From the free kick, the Partenopei broke, and Lavezzi attempted to fire a 20-yard shot high across Manninger, but the Austrian was able to palm the ball over at full stretch. The resulting corner was swung in towards Paolo Cannavaro, but he went down easily under the challenge of Chiellini as the ball sailed harmlessly over the pair's heads.

Ezequiel Lavezzi takes on Claudio Marchisio

There were more cards on display than at a children's birthday party, and within a minute of Mauro Camoranesi being cautioned for a foul, he was given a stern lecture, rather than a red card, by referee Nicola Rizzoli for showing dissent after another poor tackle on Zuniga.

The home side were seeing more than their fair share of the ball, but were providing few clear chances, settling instead for sporadic penalty shouts, whilst Juve could have had a second had Jonathan Zebina been able to find a black and white shirt with his cut-back after he'd done well to reach the byline.

Whilst it was a reasonably solid Juve that managed to see out the first half, they were conceding far too much possession to the Vesuviani, who could easily have scored in stoppage time when a free kick from deep caused panic in the penalty area before Manninger ultimately managed to force the ball away.

Napoli had a wonderful chance to equalize immediately after the break when Zebina tugged back Quagliarella and referee Rizzoli pointed to the penalty spot. But Hamsik incomprehensibly blazed the spot-kick high over the bar, to the relief of Zebina and the Bianconeri.

Within a minute it looked as though the Azzurri could pay double for Hamsik's miss as Del Piero broke clear at the other end, but Campagnaro's excellent cover tackle kept the home side in the game.

And they were level in the 50th minute, with the Slovakian Hamsik making up for his spot-kick error.

Fabio Quagliarella did brilliantly to commit Zebina before whipping in a delightful left foot cross to the far post, where the unmarked Hamsik headed home a deserved equaliser.

Napoli's tails were now up and they began to really lay siege on the home goal. They could so easily have taken the lead when a cross from the right wasn't cleared by the Bianconeri and dropped kindly for Pazienza at the far post. The midfielder's fierce right foot drive flashed just wide of the far post with Lavezzi just inches away from directing the ball into the Juve net.

Again the home side created a gilt-edged chance on 61 minutes when Zuniga did well on the left before sending in a cross towards the head of Maggio, but the ball was just too high for the former Sampdoria man to keep under control and instead his effort flew over the bar.

Zaccheroni then made his second change, introducing Diego at the expense of Camoranesi as he looked for his men to control more of the play in the face of Napoli's continued dominance.

On a rare Juve attack, Del Piero seemed to run out of ideas when Grava stood up well against him and he was unable to get a cross in towards the waiting Amauri. The skipper was then replaced with 25 minutes still on the clock, allowing Zdenek Grygera to come on and shore up the Bianconeri defence, switching the formation to a 3-5-1-1.

Diego almost put in Amauri with a dangerous free-kick, but Campagnaro slid in superbly to clear and when the ball came back into the Napoli box, the Brazilian striker's header failed to trouble De Sanctis' goal.

Juve were made to pay in the 72nd minute when the Vesuviani scored the second goal their dominance had deserved. Hamsik's left foot cross from the right tempted Manninger out of his goal, and when the keeper failed to reach the ball, Quagliarella was able to stretch out his right boot and turn the ball home to send the home crowd into raptures.

The Turin side predictably went straight onto the attack in a desperate bid to rescue something from the game, but their final ball was all too often lacking.

Game-breaker Hamsik was withdrawn to a standing ovation in a bid to tighten Napoli up in the face of the increased pressure, with Luca Cigarini taking his place.

But with two minutes remaining the home side clinched the three points when Ezequiel Lavezzi dropped in behind Zebina to fire home from a left wing cross, completing Juve's misery.

The result sends Napoli into sixth place, ahead of Juventus on their head-to-head record, and just three points behind the Champions League qualification spot.