Napoli beat Juventus in the 3rd minute
The great battle on the Allianz field was very hot towards the end. In the 82nd minute, Manuel Locatelli passed a long pass for Angel Di Maria to break the offside trap, penetrate the penalty area and then finish the left foot to touch Juan Jesus, changing direction to block goalkeeper Alex Meret.
The crowd of the host audience seemed to burst with excitement, the Juventus substitutes also ran into the field to celebrate with their teammates. But after going to the touchline to consult VAR, referee Michael Fabbri determined Arkadiusz Milik had fouled Stanislav Lobotka in the middle of the field, before the ball reached Locatelli's feet, and denied the home team's goal.
This decision angered Juventus. Coach Max Allegri had to call on his players, especially Mattia Perin and Leonardo Bonucci, to stop protesting against the fourth referee.
In the first minute of compensation, Federico Chiesa quickly eliminated central defender Kim Min-jae and passed it to Dusan Vlahovic to kick Napoli's net. But the goal continued to be disallowed because Chiesa dribbled the ball across the line. This time, Juventus did not react to the referee's decision.
The climax was pushed up in the third minute of compensation, when Eljif Elmas crossed to the far corner to let Giacomo Raspadori catch the left foot volley, "needle" goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, making the score 1-0. When Napoli celebrated a goal off the touchline, Locatelli was aggressive and clashed with the away team's players.
After the match, Allegri said the players needed to stay calm and accept the referee's decision. According to him, the players should not protest to keep their energy because they cannot change the referee's decision, after consulting VAR. Allegri also praised and congratulated the referee team for a "good performance".
The controversial victory helps Napoli take a long step to the Serie A championship. They currently have 78 points, 17 points more than Lazio and can be crowned in the next round. This will happen if Napoli beat Salernitana, and Lazio do not win Inter. At that time, Napoli will be at least 19 points ahead of Lazio, while the season has six rounds left.
"Being in the position to win the Scudetto pays off for all the sacrifices you've made over the years," said coach Luciano Spalletti as Napoli moved closer to winning the title for the third time in its history, in years. 1987 and 1990 - when the legendary Diego Armando Maradona was still at the club.
Spalletti also likened the important victory over Juventus-caliber to the last brick in the wall of the champion. "Naturally, the players were excited, especially when Napoli scored in the extra minutes, which made the game even more exciting," he added.
Meanwhile, Juventus is still third with 59 points and missed the opportunity to usurp the second place of Lazio - the club lost to Torino in the early match. "Old lady" risks being Roma - the team is four points behind and meeting Atalanta today - narrowing the gap.
Yesterday, Juventus let many pillars rest, such as Bremer, Alex Sandro, Leonardo Bonucci, Federico Chiesa, Leandro Paredes, Dusan Vlahovic or Angel Di Maria, while Moise Kean and Kaio Jorge were injured, and Paul Pogba continued to be substitutes. . On the opposite side, Napoli are without Matteo Politano, Mario Rui and Giovanni Simeone after the quarter-final defeat to Milan in the Champions League.
Napoli dominated when controlling the ball 66%, finishing 17 times with six shots on target, compared to 7 and 4 of the opponent, but could not take advantage. Even so, they still paid off thanks to Elmas and Raspadori's flashback moment
Juventus: Szczesny; Gatti, Rugani, Danilo; Cuadrado, Miretti (Di Maria 60), Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic (Chiesa 60); Soule (Fagioli 66), Milik (Vlahovic 90).
Napoli: Meret; Di Lorenzo, Kim Min-jae, Juan Jesus, Olivera; Anguissa, Lobotka (Rrahmani 90), Ndombele (Zielinski 68); Lozano (Elmas 68), Osimhen, Kvaratskhelia (Raspadori 86).
