ROME: No Cristiano Ronaldo. No wins for Juventus. The Bianconeri remained winless in Serie A and slumped to their second consecutive defeat since Ronaldo went back to Manchester United after losing at Napoli 2-1 on Saturday.
Napoli center back Kalidou Koulibaly scored five minutes from time after Moise Kean inexplicably headed the ball toward his own goal following a Napoli corner, setting up a tap-in for Koulibaly.
Matteo Politano equalized for Napoli near the hour mark following Álvaro Morata’s opener for Juventus 10 minutes in at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
Juventus remained with just one point from a 2-2 draw at Udinese in its season opener. With Massimiliano Allegri having returned as Juventus coach after Andrea Pirlo’s unsuccessful tenure last season ended a run of nine straight Italian league titles, Juventus also lost at home to promoted Empoli before the international break.
The loss to Empoli came a day after Ronaldo’s transfer while this defeat came on the day that Ronaldo scored twice on his return to United after 12 years in a 4-1 victory over Newcastle in the English Premier League.
Napoli, meanwhile, has won all three of its matches under new coach Luciano Spalletti and moved three points clear of Lazio, Inter Milan, Roma and AC Milan, which each play on Sunday.
The equalizer came when Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny didn’t do enough to control a long-range curled effort from Lorenzo Insigne and Politano slotted it in from near the ‘keeper’s left post.
Morata’s goal came following a defensive error from Kostas Manolas, who was attempting an ill-advised pass back to goalkeeper David Ospina. Morata took possession instead and beat Ospina from a sharp angle.
It was Morata’s first goal of the season after scoring 20 in 44 matches across all competitions last season for Juventus.
United States midfielder Weston McKennie played the opening 72 minutes for Juventus despite being banned from a pair of US World Cup qualifiers for violating the national team’s COVID-19 protocols.
McKennis also missed Juventus’ derby against Torino in April after violating COVID-19 protocols in Italy.
Allegri needed McKennie’s services after deciding not to use South American players Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado, Rodrigo Bentancur, Danilo and Alex Sandro because they had just returned from international duty.
McKennie nearly scored with a long, low shot that went just wide shortly after Politano’s goal.
Venezia earned its first points in Serie A in nearly 20 years with a 2-1 win at Serie B champion Empoli.
Back in the top division for the first time since 2001-02, Venezia’s goals came from two newly acquired players: French forward Thomas Henry and Nigerian striker David Okereke.
No Ronaldo, no wins for Juventus after losing at Napoli 2-1
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No Ronaldo, no wins for Juventus after losing at Napoli 2-1
- The Bianconeri remained winless and slumped to their 2nd consecutive defeat since Ronaldo left to Manchester United
- Juventus remained with just one point from a 2-2 draw at Udinese
Nigeria’s Chukwueze calls for AFCON to get same respect as World Cup
- “Everybody wants to play in AFCON. It’s one of the best competitions in the world,” Chukwueze told On Sports TV
Nigeria forward Samuel Chukwueze believes the Africa Cup of Nations should be given the same level of respect as the World Cup and the European Championship following controversy over the timing of the tournament in Morocco.
Initially scheduled to take place in the summer, this year’s AFCON was scheduled for December 21-January 18, depriving leading European clubs of key players participating in it at a crucial stage of the domestic season. “Everybody wants to play in AFCON. It’s one of the best competitions in the world,” Chukwueze told On Sports TV. “You have to respect the AFCON the same way you respect the European Championship or World Cup.”
The Fulham winger will miss six games for his club if Nigeria reach the round of 16.
“We understand they scheduled it at the wrong time of the year, but when it’s important, if you get recalled you have to go,” he said. “You don’t have any choice, your club can’t stop you and no one should say anything bad about the AFCON. Yes, they put it at the wrong time, but saying it’s not a good competition or a great competition is unacceptable.”
Chukwueze helped Nigeria secure an opening 2-1 win over Tanzania in Group C ahead of their second game against Tunisia on Saturday.
