Two late goals from substitutes give
the Italian champions victory over title
challengers Napoli.
Jose Caceres and French recruit Paul
Pogba scored a goal apiece as
champions Juventus pulled three
points clear of closest challengers
Napoli with a 2-0 win on Saturday.
Juventus and Napoli went into the
top-of-the-table clash, billed as a
battle between the poor south and
rich north, as the only two unbeaten
teams in the league after seven
games.
But after a dominant first half by Juve
in which Sebastian Giovinco and
Napoli striker Edinson Cavani came
close to opening the scoring, Juventus
pounced in two second-half minutes
to claim their seventh win in eight
games.
Early attack
Giovinco gave the hosts hope of an
early lead when he strolled into the
area following a short corner to
unleash a shot which Morgan De
Sanctis did well to get low and collect
in the first minute.
Juve went on to control the half as
Walter Mazzarri's visitors, one of the
most attacking teams in the league,
seemed strangely set on a wait-and-
see approach.
It left Cavani, who returned to Italy
only early Friday from Uruguay after
international duty in midweek, with
few scoring chances in the first half.
Indeed the Uruguayan was most
notable early on for picking up a
largely unwarranted yellow card after
11 minutes after Juve defender
Giorgio Chiellini ran into him.
Andrea Pirlo was at his best in
midfield and proved a constant threat
for Napoli at set-pieces.
A corner by the Italy midfielder was
flicked on by the head of Arturo Vidal
in the 20th minute but found no
takers in the Napoli area.
Juve's pressing was limiting Napoli's
chances, but moments later Cavani
came close to a stunning opener.
When Juan Zuniga found Gokhan
Inler with a pass on the left of the
area the slightest of tugs from Vidal
brought the Swiss midfielder down.
From the resultant free kick Cavani
shook the post and the crossbar as
Juve keeper Marco Storari could only
look on.
Pressure
Juve, still pressing for the opener,
came close on the stroke of half-time
when Claudio Marchisio's shot from
the edge of the area forced De Sanctis
into action as it soared just over the
crossbar.
Ghanaian midfielder Kwadwo
Asamoah is proving to be one of
Juve's best buys of the season and
when he won a free kick just outside
the area shortly after the restart Pirlo's
free kick took a deflection but was
saved low by De Sanctis.
At the other end Napoli were given a
rare glimmer of hope after a nice
exchange of passes between Marek
Hamsik and Goran Pandev, but as
Pandev teed up his shot an alert
Marchisio came chasing back to block.
Giovinco then wasted his second
scoring chance when he fumbled
Asamoah's pass in the area and
regained control but sent his shot a
metre past De Sanctis' upright.
Juve stand-in coach Massimo Carrera
then replaced striker Fabio
Quagliarella with Alessandro Matri,
but two further substitutions shortly
after were to prove most fruitful.
Pogba came on for Vidal while
Asamoah went off in place of Caceres
and within minutes, Juve had taken a
2-0 lead.
With barely 10 minutes remaining Juve
won a corner and Caceres got his
head to Pirlo's cross to beat De
Sanctis from close range.
Two minutes later a poor clearance
from Napoli found Pogba over 20
metres out and the French teenager
seized the day to send a superb strike
past the diving De Sanctis.
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