Juve clobbers Napoli to close gap on Roma
Print Edition
Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba scored spectacular second-half goals to help Juventus beat Napoli 3-0 on Sunday, closing the gap on Serie A leader AS Roma to one point and leaving its opponent trailing in third place.
Playmaker Pirlo fired a viciously dipping free kick over the Napoli wall from nearly 30 meters, then Pogba collected a pass, flicked the ball up and volleyed home from a similar distance beyond a bemused Pepe Reina six minutes later.
Roma, which won its first 10 games, was held to a second successive 1-1 draw after conceding a 94th-minute equalizer at home to lowly Serie A newcomer Sassuolo.
Familiar routines continued at Fiorentina, where Giuseppe Rossi scored two more goals in a 2-1 win over Sampdoria, and AC Milan, which remained in crisis mode after a goalless draw at bottom club Chievo.
Roma leads with 32 points from 12 games, with Juventus on 31 and Rafael Benitez’s Napoli on 28 after its second league defeat of the season.
Juventus made a flying start and Reina had already stopped one Pogba effort before Fernando Llorente turned in a deflected shot from close range after only two minutes.
Reina brilliantly stopped close-range headers from Leonardo Bonucci and Llorente before halftime, although Napoli came back into the match after the break with Lorenzo Insigne always menacing.
Juventus settled the match in six stunning minutes, which began with Pirlo scoring from a typically majestic free kick before he was upstaged by Pogba, the player tipped to take over his mantle when the 34-year-old eventually retires.
“I was happy with my goal, but I’m happier with the win,” Pirlo told Sky Sport Italia. “We tried to send a signal to those in front of us, to let them know we’re going to have a great season.”
Titleholder Juventus finished with 10 men after defender Angelo Ogbonna was sent off for a second bookable offense late in the game
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
