Victor Osimhen was in the starting eleven and eventually came out tops over Cristiano Ronaldo as Napoli pipped Juventus 1-0 in the Serie A on Saturday.
The Super Eagles striker was later replaced with 15 minutes left in the game.
Lorenzo Insigne was the hero as he ended his Juventus penalty curse and scored his 100th goal for Napoli.
Napoli have now won two matches in a row against Juventus in Serie A for the first time since 2011.
They are in fourth position on 40 points while Juventus are third on 42 points and eight points behind AC Milan.
This was the first Serie A meeting of the season between both teams, as the October trip to Turin was cancelled due to COVID cases, initially earning Napoli a 3-0 defeat and docked point, a decision revoked on appeal.
That fixture is yet to be rescheduled, but they did meet in the Supercoppa last month, Juve winning the trophy 2-0.
Napoli were without Dries Mertens, Kalidou Koulibaly, Kostas Manolas, Diego Demme, Elseid Hysaj and Faouzi Ghoulam due to injuries.
Former Arsenal goalkeeper David Ospina pulled out in the warm-up while Paulo Dybala, Arthur and Aaron Ramsey were ruled out for Juventus.
Napoli had penalty appeals waved away, as Nikola Maksimovic nodded the ball onto Giorgio Chiellini’s arm from point-blank range.
However, Chiellini made another error when jumping with his arm on Amir Rrahmani’s face and this time VAR did consider it a foul, as did the referee following his on-field review.
Despite missing three previous penalties against Juventus, including one in the Supercoppa last month, Insigne still stepped up and buried it into the roof of the net.
Juan Cuadrado went off with a muscular problem, but Juve poured forward from the start of the second half, Ronaldo drilling wide, then volleying straight at Meret from point-blank range on a corner.
Meret had more work to do, standing tall to beat away a ferocious Chiesa strike, then Chiellini was offside when setting up Alvaro Morata to score.
An Alex Sandro snapshot flew past both the far post and Ronaldo sliding in, then on the counter Ronaldo saw his effort denied by Meret’s legs at the near post.
Chiesa drilled inches wide from the edge of the area following an Eljif Elmas error, but Meret again used his legs for a sensational save on Morata from six yards.
It was a siege in the closing stages, including six minutes of stoppages, but Napoli held on to secure the three points.
By James Agberebi
13 Comments
Osimehn really need to buckle up in Napoli,I saw the game today and he did nothing for the 75 mins he was on, barely touched the ball,never troubled the defence ,I wish he can regain his confidence back and sharpness after 3 months of no football,I will advice genart rohr to leave him out of next months matches ,so that he can stay and work his personal trainers for improvement.napoli fans are getting irritated now.may GOD help him
Watched the game, he did look like he wanted the ball and was frustrated when he didn’t get the chances. I don’t know if its the midfield problem or he cant compete.
Sad to say, but Osimhen soon look like a bust, only 2 goals and 14 starts for a 70 million player. If he don’t rack up the pressure gonna be on him. People are different when it comes to joining a new league. Some players hit it off like Bruno Fernandez and Ruben Dias. Then some don’t like Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Osimhen. Napoli didn’t spend money just to move to 5th from 7th. Some credible analyst had Napoli finishing 1st because of Osimhen joining, because Napoli was good defensively and needed a scorer. But now they are questioning him. I know its hard transitioning from Super eagles getting a broken arm then going back to club. I don’t think anything is helping
I watched the match too and unfortunately, I didn’t see any meaningful service to Osimhen from the wings or from midfield. Coach Gattuso has to do something about it because no striker can thrive without good service.
All our strikers that are playing well and scoring goals in club football are doing so because they receive the sort of service they need to excel from players around them.
Whether in club or international football, any striker starved of tailored services will be rendered impotent be they Osimhen, Onuachu or whoever…..
I watch the match too. The way napoli plays no striker will get goal with such a rubish team play. I am beginning to feel that some of the players are intentional frustrating osihmen. They don’t creat clear chances for him, all of the play makers want to be the goal scorer, they dassle round and round and never finds they are target man, only Martin’s and koulabali are the ones that can make osihmen enjoy this club, the other midfielders are so selfish and indecisive, another team with similar problem is Bordeaux if France they keep frustrating kalu with their quack midfielders that cannot make simple transition of the ball to their wingers. I will advise rohr to invite osihmen for our nest games, if he scores it will boasten is moral, the guy needs the eagles now than ever, besides he is the afcon too highest scorer how can he mentain that position by being left out of the team. For me it doesn’t make anysense.
God bless you @Collins; exactly my opinion, that team is laden with self first and personal glory seeking players plus I can hardly count 3/4 players who are very comfortable on the ball without making erratic and stray passes. Also, the defence to me is not up to scratch for a team that wants to compete at the highest level (especially the full backs). Another issue I observed in that Napoli team is the lack of spirit, character, charisma, fight and team work which is very evident in their casual play and seeming loss of concentration in crucial moments. I just wish Victor all of the best…
@ Collins Id. I can only say God bless you. You ve got eyes to see. Lot of fans sadly, underestimate the jealousy of team mates and how that jealousy influence these evil players schemes to make the victim player look bad. Osimene is super talent n you could easily see that yesterday and trust me Gatuso Understand all that’s going on. It’s definitely not Osimenes problem but the satanic plot. Unfortunately sometimes the manager just may not be able to do anything about this. I will only advice Osimene to keep letting loose the fire in him n leave the rest to God. Whatever happens at the end, won’t change the fact that he is such super talent. Those jealous idiots won’t ever get I n I to rubbish one of Nigeria’s best talents.
I largely agree with you Collins. The Napoli players except a few are selfish and perhaps want to frustrate Their Number 9.
It is quite unfortunate.
I knew this was going to happen. Well, oshimen need to adjust and score goals. He is not onuachu. All this talk of no service won’t work. When he failed to score in the first few matches when his team score lots of goals, I knew there is a problem.
Let him come to super eagles and score to boost his confidence. He needs to also be a bit selfish too as a striker.
You guys won’t stop to amaze me, just because it’s osimhen now, the rule should be adjusted, but when peeps ask for SE coach to deploy means to suit onuachi style, you guys condemn it , VO just need to up his game ,that’s it all this excuse of teammates not passing him the ball is baseless, understandable he is out of form which can be link to the lengthy injury lay off, but saying his team mates don’t pass him the ball off me, and to think this the same players you guys said don’t need pass from the
Midfield, that he look for the ball himself.
Meanwhile… Terem Moffi just scored a brace for Lorient vs Monaco and we have some people foaming with incredulity at the mouth supporting a retrogressive idea for Rohr to recall Ighalo… I mean for games versus Benin Republic and Lesotho, not even a case like a world cup qualification decider against the likes of Egypt, Cameroon, Algeria or Senegal. We are watching to see the the level of freneticism and panic a ROHR shows to recall Ighalo who retired over two years ago… give young budding talents a chance let them blossom and come with new verve. All of a sudden Ighalo suddenly finds the nectar of sweetness to pull on the greens again!
@Jimmyball so if a player isnt from your regiion he’s not a good pyer abi??? your nepotism is contagious and getting annoyingly disturbing
Where did you see me say that? My first comment up here was sarcasm to people calling for recall of Odion Ighalo back to Super Eagles in support of Coach Rohrs recent hint… people like @Dr.Drey and @UBFE. I call for young players who are currently doing a good job… Someone scoring in Logue 1… Some here say is still in experienced.
@cuteprince thumps up….
Don’t mind him….
The same person that complains that Rohr shouldn’t invite Ighalo is the same person urging Rohr to extend invitation to FANENDO ADI bcos he’s from his state(BENUE)….
His reason being that Ighalo is too old to play for SE, but little did he know that Ighalo will be turning 32 later this year and in the same vien, his world best striker(ADI) will be turning 31 later this year.(i think to him Ighalo is very old while Adi is very young considering their age difference.)
Had it been Rohr invited Adi, he will never make any comment. He’ll be much please…. The issue of giving room for young players would be dead and buried.
After somebody will come and tell me this young man (@Jimmy wetin wetin sef) is not Tribalist in nature…..
::::SHALOM :::::