Naples (Italy) (AFP)

Gennaro Gattuso's Napoli gave a lesson in realism to Juventus from his friend Andrea Pirlo (1-0) on Saturday, who fell for the third time in the league a few days before their round of 16 in the Champions League in Porto.

Thanks to a penalty from his captain Lorenzo Insigne (31st), and precious saves in the second half from his goalkeeper Alex Meret, Gattuso offers himself a breath of fresh air after a complicated start to the year: the Supercopa lost against these same Turinese (0-2), some troublesome defeats in the league (La Spezia, Genoa) and an elimination this week in the Italian Cup.

This victory puts Naples back in the race for the Top 4 synonymous with qualification for the Champions League, the club's priority objective, which was missed last year.

Napoli joined Roma and Lazio in the standings (40 pts) and came back two lengths from Bianconeri (3rd), against whom they still have a late match to play: the famous first leg in Turin which had not taken place and still needs to be organized.

The Neapolitans had not made the trip in early October after two cases of Covid-19 in their workforce.

In the Diego Maradona stadium, which looks like a refrigerator (3 ° C), swept by the wind, Juventus did not know how to get out of a trap that it never disdains to set its opponents.

She held the ball a lot, pressed with energy but was unable to deceive an impeccable Meret, invited to the party at the last moment after David Ospina's last minute forfeit.

In the absence of Paolo Dybala (ankle), Aaron Ramsey (muscle discomfort) and Arthur (right leg problem), Juve quickly set the tone.

With constant pressing and more technical mastery, but little precision in front of goal, like the head above Adrien Rabiot (5th), the first of the missed opportunities of the evening.

In a padlocked game, Naples had a lot more trouble worrying Juve, with Victor Osimhen brought back to the forefront, with Insigne behind him in a more axial leadership role than usual.

It finally took an intervention from the VAR to switch this match to the Neapolitan side, with a penalty awarded for a foul by Giorgio Chiellini on Amir Rrahmani.

And Lorenzo Insigne, this time, did not miss the exercise, signing his 100th goal with Naples (all competitions).

He had so far missed the three penalties he had had the opportunity to shoot against Juve, the most recent just a few weeks ago in the loss in the Italian Supercup.

Stung, the Turinese tried everything in the second half but Meret first made an incredible save in front of Cristiano Ronaldo (49th), then was again solid at the end of the match in front of Alvaro Morata (86th) then again CR7 (90th).

Gattuso could let his joy burst out and take a deep breath.

© 2021 AFP