Juventus Vs. Napoli, 2012 Serie A: Second Half Hammering Gives Juve 3-0 Victory

It was a glorious night in Turin for the Juventus faithful as their team picked up a much-needed three points with a 3-0 victory over Napoli. The partenopei were off their game tonight, with the Holy Trinity almost anonymous. They made it through the first half having conceded no goals, but that was really more due to the ineptitude of Marko Borriello than any of their own skill. In the second half, goals from Leonardo Bonucci, Arturo Vidal and Fabio Quagliarella lifted Juventus, putting them just two points behind AC Milan.

Bonucci struck first for the Old Lady, although he almost seemed to not have a clue about the goal. Of course, the goal came from a Andrea Pirlo free kick, with the master whipping it into the center of a pile of pink shirts. Mirko Vucinic whipped the ball goalwards, where it deflected off Bonucci, catching Morgan De Sanctis off guard and landing in the back of the net.

Bonucci's goal may have been a near-accident, but the bianconeri made up for that with their second goal, a result of splendid footwork by Vidal. The Chilean, racing up the left wing, encountered Hugo Campagnaro, but zigzagged around the Napoli defender, stepped past an oncoming Camile Zuniga and fired his shot past a diving De Sanctis.

To further compound the visitors' misery, former Napoli striker Quagliarella scored the third for Juve. A pass from Alessandro Del Piero set Quags free on the right, and it was all too easy for him to slip past the Napoli "defense" and put the ball in the back of the net.

Just to make things even more fun, in the 86th minute, Zuniga lost his mind and decided to elbow Giorgio Chiellini in the face. He saw a straight red card, which will leave Walter Mazzarri with a bit of a headache against Lazio next week, seeing as Christian Maggio needed to leave the match with injury after just 25 minutes of play.