Rome: Juventus closed all talk of a challenge to their Serie A dominance after coming through a second-half onslaught at Napoli to win 2-1 in an engrossing match that saw each side have a man sent off and stretch their lead at the top to a huge 16 points.
Massimiliano Allegri’s leaders have now as good as sealed their eighth straight Serie A title after a match that looked dead at half-time with Juve two goals and a man up but sparked back into life when goalscorer Miralem Pjanic was sent off for handling a Napoli pass and picking up a second yellow card just after the break.
Midfielder Pjanic swept home his free-kick opener in the 28th minute, which came immediately after Napoli were reduced to 10 men thanks to goalkeeper Alex Meret slicing down Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese nipped in to intercept a terrible Kevin Malcuit backpass.
Emre Can looked to have seaked the points for a dominant Juve when he added the second from a corner 11 minutes later after substitute David Ospina tipped away Pjanic’s stinging shot but the Bosnian’s red card gave Napoli a glimmer of hope.
They were back in the game in the 61st minute when Jose Callejon tapped home a pinpoint Lorenzo Insigne cross, and then piled the pressure on a suddenly creaking Juve.
Piotr Zielinski, who flashed wide early and hit the post seconds after Pjanic opened the scoring, twice forced fine saves from countryman Wojciech Szczesny.
It looked as though the hosts were set to launch a final assault when they were given a penalty six minutes before the end for a controversial handball decision against Alex Sandro given thanks to the video assistant referee system, only for Insigne to crash his spot-kick against the post and let the champions off the hook.
Italy remembers Astori
As elsewhere across Serie A this weekend, play at the Stadio San Paolo stopped in the 13th minute to honour the memory of deceased former Italy international Davide Astori, with fans of both sides applauding the ex-Fiorentina captain, who died in his sleep aged just 31 on March 4 last year.
Astori’s name was chanted by fans of AC Milan, where he came
through as a youth player, during a 1-0 win over Sassuolo on Saturday that took Gennaro Gattuso’s
side third and a point above Inter, who lost 2-1 at Cagliari amid a public contract dispute with absent star striker Mauro Icardi.
But the most emotional scenes came during Fiorentina’s 3-1 defeat at Atalanta, who kept their hopes of Champions League football alive on an emotional day thanks to goals from Josip Ilicic, Alejandro Gomez and Robin Gosens. — AFP
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