Juventus player ratings vs Napoli: Ronaldo was worth every penny
By John Vaccaro
This is why Juventus bought Cristiano Ronaldo.
When Juventus needed it most he was absolutely incredible. He rescued Juve from an absolutely awful start to the match against Napoli.
Juve’s perfect start to the season looked to be in trouble early in the match. Napoli took control of the match out of the gate and put the pressure on Juve. Just 10 minutes into the match Leonardo Bonucci cracked under that pressure and played a poor pass that set Napoli up perfectly to score. Jose Callejon played a ball across to Dries Mertens and Mertens easily found the back of the net.
Juve would turn this match around though. Just 16 minutes later Ronaldo sent in a perfect cross that Mario Mandzukic headed past David Ospina to equalize for Juve. The match went into halftime tied at 1, but Ronaldo and Mandzukic weren’t done yet.
4 minutes into the second half Ronaldo got free to unleash a shot that Ospina was able to save, but pushed off the post leaving the ball in play for a follow-up. Mandzukic was the first man to it and put Juve ahead with his easy finish.
In the 58th minute Mario Rui picked up a second yellow for an unnecessary foul on Paulo Dybala. This actually seemed to spur Napoli as they had a good spell after the sending off, even creating a very good chance on goal, however Juve would shut the door in the 76th.
Ronaldo got his head to a corner and served up an easy chance for Bonucci. Bonucci finished the chance and put Juve in the driver seat. From there they coasted to a 3-1 win.
GK: Wojciech Szczesny 7/10
Szczesny performed well yet again for Juve. He did give up a goal in this match, but it wasn’t one that he ever really had a chance of saving. He did make 3 saves in this match, including stopping a potential equalizer from Callejon after Napoli had gone down to 10 men. It was another good day for Szczesny and he continues to look like he will keep Perin from taking this job from him this year.