This was a good week for Juventus. They qualified for the semi-final of the Europa League after a tricky away game in Lisbon against Sporting (1-1), and their 15 points deduction was overruled by the court, so they started the match with Napoli looking to take the second place in Serie A with a win. They also wanted revenge for the 5-1 thrashing from Napoli in the south of Italy in January this year. But, problem with Juventus is that their coach Massimiliano Allegri is a defense-first coach, even when his team needs a win, and tonight they played like that and came up with nothing, as Napoli’s sub Giacomo Raspadori scored in injury time for the 1-0 win.Napoli could win their first Serie A title in 33 years next weekend if they win vs. Salernitana and Lazio drop points at Inter ⏳ pic.twitter.com/SxKPeW4Enc— B/R Football (@brfootball) April 23, 2023 Usually Juventus plays ugly and defensively and ends up with a 1-0 win, and even decisions by VAR usually end up in their favor, but tonight, it was totally opposite. They played ugly and defensive but VAR nullified their winning goal in the 83rd minute and in the end, they lost. The only real excitement came when a lightning quick Juve counter attack was started by Locarelli, whose long ball reached Angel Di Maria, and the World Cup winner needed nobody else to finish the job – 1-0 Juventus. But…VAR intervened for a possible offensive foul prior to the goal and referee Michael Fabbri, who was less than two meters from the spot and initially allowed the game to continue. went over to the monitor and changed his mind .And deep into injury time, Raspadori finally put some points on the bord, as Neapolitans ended their three-match winless run that included their Champions League elimination.GOAL | Juventus 0-1 Napoli | Raspadoripic.twitter.com/96fpB0xqbx— VAR Tático (@vartatico) April 23, 2023 The first excitement came in the 12th minute, when Cuadrado stormed inside from the left but his shot was beaten away by Meret. Then it was Napoli’s chance to score a goal, but Danilo blocked Lozano’s shot and he didn’t even reach Wojciech Szczesny. In fact, Napoli have failed to fire any shots on target in the first half in two Serie A games in a row, which is their worst streach since 2011. The second half started as boring as the first one, but little by litte, Napoli took over and started pressing a bit more. Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri brought in Di Maria and Chiesa but it didn’t bring him any advantage, on the contrary, the Neapolitans dominated. The invisible Victor Osimhen finally showed up and had as many as three serious chances in the span of 5 minutes. He hit the post first, and then his next two shots went to Szczesny’s hands and then over the bar. And Juve nearly punished Napoli with two overruled goals, first by Di Maria and later by Vlahović, who scored, but Chiesa’s cross came after the ball went out of play. But, in the end, it was Raspadori whose goal was decisive and gave Neapolitans a win in the North of Italy. SERIE A – ROUND 31FridayVerona – Bologna 2-1 (1-0)/Verdi 45+6 pen, 62 – Dominguez 90+4/SaturdaySalernitana – Sassuolo 2-0 (1-0)/Pirola 9, Dia 20/Lazio – Torino 0-1 (0-1)/Ilic 43/Sampdoria – Spezia 1-1 (1-0)/Amione 23 – Verde 59/SundayEmpoli – Inter 0-3 (0-0)/Lukaku 48, 76, Lautaro 88/Monza – Fiorentina 3-2 (2-2)/Biraghi 26(og), Motta 43, Pessina 59 – Koumate 8, Saponara 13/Udinese – Cremonese 3-0 (3-0)/Samardzic 2, Perez 27, Success 36/Milan – Lecce 2-0 (1-0)/Leao 40, 74/Juventus – Napoli 0-1 (0-0)/Raspadori 90+3/Monday21:45: (2.50) Atalanta (3.40) Roma (3.10)***odds are subject to change***
