Juventus 1-0 Napoli : Five talking points

Juventus hosted Napoli for what was arguably the most important match in the Serie A season. The Old Lady has come a long way from the reverse fixture, which Napoli won 2-1.Since then, a record-breaking 14 consecutive Serie A wins meant that the 4-time champions have risen straight back into contention for the league title, after having been bottom of the table at one point after to a shambolic start to the season.Napoli are on a historical run of form of their own, and eight consecutive Serie A wins mean that for the first time since Maradona’s era, Napoli can realistically dream of the title.An 88th minute header for Simone Zaza helped Juventus nab a vital 1-0 win, their 15th on the trot, and surely now the dynamics of the title race have tilted in their favour. Let’s analyze the 5 major talking points that emerged from the game.

#1 Zaza the unlikely hero in the battle between Higuain and Dybala

Zaza scored the late winner for Juventus

Gonzalo Higuain has been in an amazing run of form with 24 league goals in as many games. Having led the Partenopei to the top of Serie A, it has been no surprise that comparisons with the legendary Diego Maradona have been pouring in.

Maradona, like his Argentinean successor, led Napoli to their last league title in 1989-90. The weight of expectation was now firmly on Higuain’s shoulders, with Maradona recently proclaiming him to be his heir at Napoli.

Paulo Dybala was last season’s rising star, having netted 13 goals for Palermo. The Argentinean wunderkind is also drawing comparisons to Messi, and is seen as his heir in the national team. The youngster has understandably played down such conjectures.

But he deserves a lot of praise for seamlessly slotting into a big club and ensuring that another legendary Argentinean, Carlos Tevez’s absence has not been felt.

The media were hyping it as a showdown between Higuain and Dybala (who is surprisingly a massive 13 goals off the former), but it was former Sassuolo man Zaza who popped up at the right time to deliver a priceless goal for Juve.

Being fourth-choice behind Dybala, Morata and Mandzukic does not make one hopeful of playing time, and despite almost leaving the club on more than occasion, Zaza has made his presence felt at Juventus with 7 goals in all competitions this season.

#2 Two managers possibly destined for bigger things in the near future?

Allegri won the battle of managers

It is easy to forget about the roles Massimiliano Allegri and Maurizio Sarri have played in the meteoric rise of their teams.

Having failed at Milan, Allegri took charge of Juve at the start of last season after highly successful and current Italian National Team manager Antonio Conte stepped down amidst dubious circumstances. Allegri has since then resurrected his image and shown just why he is one of the best young managers around after leading his side to the brink of a historic treble last season.

Things were bound to be tougher this season with the departure of key figures Pirlo, Tevez and Vidal, but Allegri has steered them through the transition period, and now they are looking unstoppable with this latest win over Napoli.

Sarri has quietly gone about his job after the disastrous reign of Rafa Benitez, but the odds were hardly ever stacked in his favour. He came under public ridicule from Maradona himself, who insisted that Sarri was not up to scratch for a job of Napoli’s magnitude.

In such an embarrassing situation, Sarri displayed extreme class and humility by saying that he felt grateful that Maradona at least knew who he was. He has, with the help of Lorenzo Insigne, Marek Hamsik and, of course, Gonzalo Higuain led Napoli to one point off the top, after this latest unfavourable result but on the back of 8 consecutive wins.

Oh, and he did earn a public apology from Maradona a while back.

Allegri came into the match with intense speculation that he had already signed a four-year deal with Chelsea. Undoubtedly, both these managers are very talented, and if Juve can win the UCL or even a treble, and if Napoli can win the league – it would be a sort of a closure on the manager’s respective projects, and they might surely be tempted at the prospect of working in the Premier League.

#3 Defenders outshine the strikers

All the Napoli attacks were thwarted by Juventus defense

It wasn’t the best of days for Gonzalo Higuain and Lorenzo Insigne. The Argentinean has a mammoth 24 league goals to his name, and the latter was the first in the top 5 leagues to reach double figures for goals and assists this season.

However, on a night where they couldn’t provide the goals for Napoli, the likes of Hamsik, Mertens and Jorginho couldn’t step up to the plate. It is definitely an area Napoli should improve upon, and they would also do well with the addition of a world-class centre-back.

Even the in-form Paulo Dybala, who was partnered up front by the lackluster Alvaro Morata, scuffed the best chance of the game. The match was not a competition of the attackers, but of the defenders, who kept the opposition on a tight leash.

As a result, the likes of Buffon and Reina didn’t have anything major to deal with. Even Simone Zaza’s goal was slightly fortuitous, as it took a deflection of Raul Albiol.

#4 Advantage Juve in the title race, but all is not lost for Napoli

Juve are now on top of the Serie A table with the win, they have one point more than the Partenopei

The last stretch of this season’s Serie A battle is almost upon us – and both these sides have only 4 more ‘big’ games remaining. Juve host Inter, and have matches away at Fiorentina and Milan in between a home game against Lazio.

Napoli host Milan before travelling to Fiorentina in their next two Seria fixtures. The Partenopei also have two difficult away games to Inter and Roma.

Arguably, Napoli have the tougher run of fixtures to deal with, and if Juventus keep up their excellent form, Napoli might just fall short this season. Critically, it will be the fixtures against the lesser lights of the Serie A that will decide the course of the season.

It is more or less certain that Napoli and Juventus will battle for the trophy, and the likes of Inter, Milan, Roma and Fiorentina will be in a scrap for the Champion’s League spot.

Juventus have four matches against current Serie A basement boys, while Napoli have only two. A win would have left Napoli 5 points clear and given them much needed breathing space, but now they are one point behind, and they will be hoping to have some luck go their way in the weeks to come. Just as how Zaza was lucky with his winning goal which took a deflection of Albiol.

#5 Juve possibly on the brink of an injury crisis

Bonucci came off against Napoli after suffering an injury

Juventus do not have the squad depth like Paris St Germain, Chelsea or Manchester City. They came into the game in the back of a spectacular run of 8 games without conceding a goal. However, with Chiellini injured, and Bonucci coming off against Napoli with his own injury, it leaves the aging Barzagli and Daniel Rugani as Juventus’ recognized centre backs.

They don’t have much depth in attack either, with Mandzukic injured and Morata off-form, it leaves Allegri with only Zaza to call up to change the course of the game.

Notably, Paul Pogba was playing on the left flank and Juventus will surely be regretting letting Kingsley Coman go to Bayern, who they will be facing in the UCL round of 16. Indeed, Bayern have their own defensive woes with Jerome Boateng out for a long period, leaving only Holger Badtsuber, emergency loan signing Serdar Tasci and midfielder Joshua Kimmich options in the defense.

Guardiola is a magician even with limited tools and the manner in which makeshift defender kept the dangerous Jabier Hernandez on a leash, shows that Bayern will not be too worried. However, another injury or two to a Juventus squad fighting on three fronts may just throw the spanner in their works.