Serie A, Week 30: Juventus Beat Napoli To Move Within Two Points Of Milan

While Juventus have seen plenty of chances go begging thus far, primarily due to the inability of Borriello and Vucinic to link up, one or two substitutions will make all the difference. Despite Walter Mazzarri’s insistence that his team has worked on set pieces this week, they look frail as ever when confronted with a corner or free kick. It’s likely Juve will score -- but will Napoli be able to respond? Their counterattack is there, sure, but their passes have gone astray. If they don’t settle down, nothing will even come close.

In less than an hour, Juventus - Napoli will kick off, with both sides desperately needing all three points. With such desperation in mind, Antonio Conte has gone with his expected 3-5-2 formation, and elected to start Marco Borriello and Mirko Vucinic up top, with Alessandro Matri dropping to the bench. Walter Mazzarri’s side is exactly as anticipated, and will play in his favored 3-4-2-1.

LINEUPS:

With all that being said, who wants to wager that this match will end in a 0-0 draw?

The only surprise remaining, then, will be the result. Will Napoli get caught out on set pieces again, flailing about and failing to stop the ball from landing in the back of the net? Or will it be Juve that fail to keep out the Holy Trinity, unable to stop the synchronicity of their play? Let’s hope, at least, for a few goals in this one.

The visitors pulled one back in first-half stoppages, a goal by Emiliano Moretti, but it seemed more like consolation than anything. Who could have predicted the madness of the second half?

In the 90th minute, Genoa earned yet another penalty, after a high boot from Lucio. Gilardino took it once again, putting the visitors within one. But the drama just couldn’t hold out, and Inter walked away from the San Siro victors.

Despite playing host to the league-leaders, Catania came out fighting, refusing to sit back and play defensive football. They employed their usual swift, counter-attacking style, although plenty of wayward passes allowed Milan to stop the attacks before they grew too dangerous. It was the visitors that took the lead in the 35th minute, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic played a clever ball to Robinho, allowing the Brazilian an easy tap-in. The rossazzurri continued to respond; alas, the most they could conjure up was a wonder strike from Alejandro Gomez that rebounded off the crossbar.

In yet another questionable moment of the match, it appeared as though Robinho scored his second, but the hilarious rossazzurri defence somehow managed to rescue the ball. Giovanni Marchese cleared the ball off the line, and replays showed it hadn’t completely crossed over.

With just eight matches left in the Serie A season, it’s time for some serious table watching. Let’s break this down.

Title Contenders