Juventus player ratings vs Napoli: Miserable Juve lets Inter and Lazio off the hook
By John Vaccaro
Juventus had a chance to extend their lead at the top of the Serie A table to 6 points on Sunday after Inter Milan and Lazio both drew earlier, but unfortunately wasted it with a woeful performance.
Juventus was lucky in the first half of the match. They were absolutely horrible, looking sluggish and unprepared for the match. They didn’t even manage a single shot on goal, but Napoli wasn’t able to take advantage and take the lead in the match, allowing it to go to halftime tied at 0.
In the second half, Juve wasn’t so lucky. In the 63rd minute, Lorenzo Insigne was given too much space outside the box and took a dipping shot that was saved by Wojciech Szczesny. Unfortunately, he parried the ball straight into the path of Piotr Zielinski, who allowed to run freely through the box as Juan Cuadrado watched him score the opening goal.
Napoli would also score the second of the match as Cuadrado once again lost a player on his side of the box in the 86th minute. This time it was Lorenzo Insigne, who volleyed a shot off the ground and off Matthijs de Ligt‘s foot into the back of the net.
Juve would get a consolation goal in the 90th minute when Rodrigo Bentancur played a long ball over the top the Cristiano Ronaldo, who poked it past Napoli’s out of position keeper. Unfortunately, that was where their comeback efforts would end, losing 2-1 and allowing Inter to climb back within a win of the top of the table.
GK: Wojciech Szczesny 4.5/10
This was a pretty terrible day for Wojciech Szczesny. First, he failed to push Lorenzo Insigne’s shot far enough wide, keeping the attack alive for Napoli and allowing Piotr Zielinski to score the opener. Then he was beaten again on a volley by Insigne. He allowed goals on 2 of only 4 Napoli shots on target and one of the saves he made led to a Napoli goal. Szczesny has been great for Juve throughout this season, but this was a poor performance.