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
PSG ordered to pay around 60mn euros to Mbappe in wage dispute
- PSG in turn had demanded Mbappe pay them 440 million euros
- The labor court said the final figure of between 60 million and 61 million euros
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain were ordered to pay their former forward Kylian Mbappe up to 61 million euros ($71.8 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses by a French labor court on Tuesday.
France captain Mbappe, who left PSG in June 2024 to join Real Madrid, had been claiming over 260 million euros in total from his former club.
PSG in turn had demanded Mbappe pay them 440 million euros.
Mbappe, 26, also claimed the Parisian club applied the wrong French legal classification to his contract, but that was rejected by the court.
The labor court said the final figure of between 60 million and 61 million euros was made up of 55 million euros in unpaid salary and around six million euros in holiday payments.
PSG did not immediately say if they intend to appeal.
Lawyers for Mbappe said in a statement they “noted with satisfaction the decision given by the labor court.”
“It re-establishes a simple truth — even in the professional football industry, labor laws apply to everyone,” the lawyers added in a statement.
The French club had said they were basing the figure they were claiming in part on a botched 300m-euro transfer to Gulf club which Mbappe refused in June 2023.
Mbappe left for Real Madrid on a free transfer when his contract expired the following summer.
He insisted he made no agreement in 2023 to waive any payment from the club.
Mbappe initially filed a complaint in June over the way he was treated by PSG at the start of the 2023-24 season.
Mbappe argues that he was sidelined by PSG and made to train with players the club were trying to offload after refusing to agree a new contract.
It is a widespread practice that in France prompted the players’ union to lodge a complaint last year.
Mbappe was not invited to take part in PSG’s 2023 pre-season tour of Asia and missed the first game of that season but was later recalled to the team after holding talks with the club.
After seven seasons with PSG he joined Real Madrid where he earns a reported annual salary of 30m euros.
Mbappe scored 256 goals in 308 games for PSG but the club won the Champions League for the first time last season following his departure.
