Napoli ends Juve's run as title comes into focus
Romelu Lukaku's second-half penalty earned Serie A leader Napoli a huge 2-1 victory over Juventus, which suffered its first league defeat of the season.
Antonio Conte's side also extended its lead at the top of the table to six points over Inter Milan, which faces Lecce on Monday (AEDT) at Stadio Ettore Giardiniero.
Juventus started brightly in the contest, with Kenan Yildiz the first to test Alex Meret before Matteo Politano fired over after good work from Frank Anguissa.
The visitors took the lead two minutes before the break when Randal Kolo Muani, who joined on loan from Paris Saint-Germain earlier this week, volleyed home to score on his debut.
But Anguissa restored parity just before the hour, powering Politano's floated delivery into the box with a fine header beyond the grasp of Michele Di Gregorio.
The turnaround was complete 12 minutes later after Scott McTominay was hauled down in the penalty area after a clumsy challenge from midfielder Manuel Locatelli.
From the resulting spot-kick, Lukaku sent the ball down the middle to seal the victory and net his ninth Serie A goal of the season in the process.
Lukaku's penalty against Juventus was his 200th in the top five European leagues.
He also became only the second player in Serie A history to score against Juventus with Inter Milan, Roma and Napoli after Amedeo Amadei.
Napoli has now won seven games in a row in Serie A for the first time since the period between January and February 2023 when it won eight straight under Luciano Spalletti and went on to claim the Scudetto.
But Conte was quick to temper talk of the title after the match, urging his squad to stay grounded.
"We must never extinguish the enthusiasm because it’s our lifeblood. However, we must stay grounded because what we've done so far is extraordinary," Conte said.
"We have already matched last year's points, and this is without [Victor] Osimhen, Kvara [Khvicha Kvaratskhelia], and Piotr [Zielinski]," he added, referring to three key players who have left the club this season, Osimhen on loan.
"It’s nice to see that, despite the difficulties with the (transfer) market and injuries, nothing changes.
"We need to stay humble and keep working. Today, though, we beat a great team that had left us far behind last year."
Napoli has responded well to the poor defence of its Scudetto last season, when it finished 10th with 53 points.
Conte added that his side performed well above expectations against Juventus, which had not lost a game in Serie A this season under Thiago Motta.
"The intensity today was like a European match, with very high rhythms and full-field pressure," he said.
"We took some risks and yet some still say we play with a low defensive line and on the counter-attack. Sometimes it feels like I’m dreaming."
Motta said that Napoli not being involved in European football this season played its part in the victory.
"I'm disappointed with the defeat. We had a good first half, causing our opponents a lot of problems, a side that is not top of the table as a fluke because they have a great coach and had the opportunity to prepare all week for this," Motta said.
"However, we did not have that luxury, and it showed, because all the good work we did in the first half, we struggled to replicate in the second and that is why we were unable to win."
The result was made even more frustrating for Juventus after dominating the opening period
Kolo Muani's goal was the reward its dominance merited in the opening stages, but the Frenchman acknowledged the difficulty of facing Napoli away from home.
"We reacted well in many other situations, we just didn't do it today. Juve have not won here since 2019, it is important to point that out," Kolo Muani said.
"It is the sixth consecutive defeat for the club here, so evidently that is a tough place for us," he said.
Motta added that Juventus's downfall was all its own making, highlighting its poor play in possession as key to the defeat.
"The idea was to press and defend well, but we were unable to do that because our quality was lacking and when we started giving the ball away, Napoli tended to win the duels and that gave them an advantage," Motta concluded.
