Before Sunday’s clash between Juventus and Napoli, the landscape in the race for season’s Serie A title saw the holders Juve sit four points clear of their nearest rivals. They went into that game knowing that a win in front of their own fans would solidify their hopes of winning a seventh straight Scudetto.
However, it is a battle that is now set to go right to the season’s climax as Napoli stunned the league leaders to cut the gap at the top to just one point with four matches of the Italian Serie A campaign left to go.
Juventus may well have the knowledge and experience of getting over the line in situations such as these, but they do not have favourable fixtures between now and the final day, as Max Allegri’s players must face off against both Inter Milan and Roma.
It is those fixtures which could well prove to be a pair of Banana skin’s, and should they slip up then Napoli will be ready to take full advantage of the situation as their quest for a first Italian league title since 1990 has been given new life.
The hero in the all-important clash on Sunday night was defender Kalidou Koulibaly who headed home a dramatic winner in the final few seconds. A goal that meant it has not been the best of times for Gianluigi Buffon as of late.
Recently he was sent off by Michael Oliver in the Champions League Quarter-final after protesting too much at the decision to award Real Madrid a penalty in stoppage time and last Sunday saw him left to pick the ball out of the net as Napoli’s players peeled away in celebration.
Not only that though but the manner of Juventus’ defeat will be something of a concern to their manager Allegri, for a team that is stocked with an embarrassment of attacking riches the fact they failed to have a shot on target during the whole 90 minutes is worrying.
Does this mean that Juventus have dried up in front of goal when it really matters? – at the same time perhaps it is doing Napoli a disservice as they were incredibly well drilled in defence and did not give Juventus any joy in the final third.
And it is that performance that will give Napoli a huge boost, at this point of the campaign it is all about momentum. Something that they now have, and Juventus seem to be struggling to find. The question now though is whether Napoli who set the early season pace and come back on the final straight.
Ask any neutral connected to Italian football and they will no doubt be supporting Napoli as the team to finally break Juventus’ stranglehold on Serie A. They have certainly played some exhilarating stuff over the past eight months, but will their efforts be in vein.
Juventus have been here and done it all before, and on multiple occasions. Quite simply winning league titles is programmed into their DNA. It’s the experienced masters versus the upstarts, just who will go on and win and claim success in a few weeks time?