Post by Salem6 on Mar 1, 2009 9:56:36 GMT
Serie A Week 26 - 28/2/09 (19.30 UK)
Juventus 1 - 0 Napoli
Marchisio 44 (J)
Stadio Olimpico
Juventus rode their luck to sneak a 1-0 victory over Napoli thanks to a deflected Claudio Marchisio effort, but Nicola Legrottaglie is injured. The visitors were furious when a late equaliser was ruled offside.
The Bianconeri had to get back on track after their 1-0 Champions League defeat to Chelsea, but faced a Napoli without a win since January 11. Mauro Camoranesi, Paolo De Ceglie, Cristiano Zanetti, Gennaro Iezzo, Matteo Gianello, Gianluca Grava, Walter Gargano and Marcelo Zalayeta were out injured.
Sebstian Giovinco, Christian Poulsen and David Trezeguet were given rare starts, while Christian Maggio was surprisingly benched. Alessandro Del Piero cut in from the right and forced Navarro into a tricky double save.
Juve should've scored after 15 minutes when Marco Marchionni's cross found Trezeguet, but Navarro parried the volley with his legs and Giovinco turned the follow-up over from eight yards.
Moments later Navarro fingertipped Del Piero's free kick out from under the crossbar. The goalkeeper rushed off his line to clear Poulsen's long ball off Giovinco's foot on the edge of the box.
Nicola Legrottaglie was booked for bringing down German Denis and will be suspended for the Turin derby.
Napoli created a great team move on 38 minutes, as Denis' backheel sent Marek Hamsik clear at the near post and Gigi Buffon had to spread his body to parry from point-blank range.
Moments later Navarro rushed off his line to flap the chipped pass off Del Piero's foot, but Marchionni fired the follow-up over.
Juventus took the lead with a stroke of luck in the last minute of the first half. Claudio Marchisio gathered from Poulsen outside the area and his hopeful snapshot took a decisive deflection off ex-Juve man Manuele Blasi to bobble past a stranded Navarro.
Jesus Datolo replaced Francesco Montervino after the restart for a 4-4-2 system. It made the difference, as Napoli took control and pushed forward, although they struggled to create real danger other than Datolo's set plays.
Claudio Ranieri was jeered when he substituted Giovinco with the more defensive Hasan Salihamidzic, who was making his comeback from a long injury lay-off. Marchionni moved behind the strikers in a trequartista position.
Del Piero cut back from the byline for Zdenek Grygera, but the defence closed him down before he could shoot. The Turin crowd was increasingly irritated with the performance and Amauri replaced a tired Del Piero.
There was a scare on 69 minutes when another long free kick went into the six-yard box, so Legrottaglie and Buffon crashed into each other in the desperate attempt to clear. The defender got the worst of it and limped off with a left knee problem.
A crucial Christian Molinaro sliding tackle stopped Ezequiel Lavezzi's run down the right, but at the other end Amauri set up Trezeguet and Matteo Contini dived in to deflect the Frenchman's shot wide.
Trezeguet wasted a counter when he stumbled on the ball, but Napoli were dominating. They hit the back of the net on 87 minutes when another free kick found Paolo Cannavaro and a fantastic point-blank Buffon save that ricocheted into Lavezzi's path, but the linesman's flag had already been raised for a very tight offside position.
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Juventus: Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie (Mellberg 72), Chiellini, Molinaro; Marchionni, Poulsen, Marchisio, Giovinco (Salihamidzic 63); Del Piero (Amauri 68), Trezeguet
Napoli: Navarro; Santacroce, Cannavaro, Contini; Montervino (Datolo 46), Blasi, Pazienza (Russotto 78), Hamsik, Vitale (Aronica 78); Lavezzi, Denis
Ref: Ayroldi
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