Juventus dealt Napolia s Champions League hopes a near fatal blow with a 3-1 victory in Turin on Saturday evening. Roberto Pereyra put them ahead at half-time but a David Lopez effort had the visitors level before Stefano Sturaro and Simone Pepe secured the win that now puts Napolia s hopes of competing in Europea s premier competition out of their hands. The home side underwent a pre-match lap of honour, parading their newly won Coppa Italia, accompanied by their children as a party atmosphere enveloped the ground. The Bianconeri staged their Double Party to celebrate the last home game of the season, the Scudetto and Wednesdaya s Coppa Italia triumph in extra time over Lazio. Napoli needed precious points to keep their Champions League qualification dreams alive. Stephan Lichtsteiner and Kalidou Koulibaly were suspended, but Kwadwo Asamoah made his first appearance since sustaining knee tendon damage in November.
Dries Mertens and Lopez had early efforts saved for Napoli but they fell behind in the 13th minute when Kingsley Coman threaded the ball through and Pereyra finished right-footed from just outside the six-yard box.A flurry of activity just after the 20-minute mark saw Coman and Paul Pogba’s shots blocked for Juve while Mertens and Lopez were off target.
Pogba sent a free-kick just over before, with this the nearest Juve home game to next Friday’s Heysel anniversary, the home crowd honoured their fallen colleagues in the 39th minute. A large flag reading “39 Rispetto [respect]” was accompanied by the message: “No one truly dies if they live on in the hearts of those who remain,” while the crowd also held up the names of the individual victims. Faouzi Ghoulam and Christian Maggio were unable to find an equaliser before half-time but it came five minutes after the restart. There was a surprise at half-time, as Rafa Benitez hauled off the disappointing Gonzalo Higuain to make way for Manolo Gabbiadini.
In the second half, Sturaro went close to replicating Marco van Bastena s famous volleyed heroics for Holland at the 1988 European Championships with a thundering effort from a Pogba cross. Five minutes later, the Partenopei were on level terms. Having struggled in the way of clearcut chances, they were offered the easiest route to goal when awarded a penalty after the ball struck the arm of Kwadwo Asamoah a a decision that appeared harsh on the 26-year-old. His goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon did his best to make amends for it a with a good save to his right to deny Lorenzo Insignea s spot kick but could not keep out Lopez who slammed in the rebound.
Encouraged by their leveller, there was more intensity about the southern side afterwards although they could have done without speculative shots like that attempted by Manolo Gabbiadini in trying to lob Buffon from 45 yards a and could have been punished but both Pogba and Alvaro Morata struck straight at Andujar. After that, it was Napoli who thought they were in front, but for a jaw-dropping stop from Buffon whose agility could not be called into question despite his advancing years by producing a magnificent reflex save to tip over a blistering volley via Lopez a a save that became all the more important when a Sturaro stunner put them ahead again with little under 15 minutes left.
The former Genoa man showed an electric turn of pace to leave Britos for dead and then sent a calm finish to the corner of the net with the help of a slight deflection off Christian Maggio and Napoli had their abject evening compounded in injury time when a frustrated Britos was shown a red card for a vicious headbutt on Morata and substitute Pepe tucked away his first goal in over three years from the resulting penalty.
Napoli can now qualify only if Lazio lose to AS Roma in their derby on Monday and Napoli then beat Lazio in their final game. Their defeat also meant that second-placed Roma qualify at least for the Champions League preliminary rounds. Napoli were left with 63 points in fourth place behind Roma, in second, on 67 and Lazio, in third, on 66. The team finishing second goes straight into the Champions League group stage and third place earns a place in the final qualifying round.
Regardless of the result, it was going to be a party at Juventus Stadium because of what was happening after the final whistle sounded. Win, lose or draw, the Scudetto was on hand and prepped for the post-game trophy presentation in which Juventus would be covered in even more confetti than they were a few days ago after winning the Coppa Italia. The Bianconeri get ready to enter the 2015-16 season in three or four months, this is what Juventus’ home form is going to look like:
Juventus’ last 47 Serie A home games: WDWWWWWWDWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWDDWWWWWWWWWDW Goals: 108 Conceded: 23 pic.twitter.com/ZNYiYeZihy
a Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 23, 2015
Juventus is closing the season on an eight-game unbeaten run in competitions after losing 2-1 to Torino in the Turin Derby last month. That includes two games against Real Madrid, the Derby d’Italia, the Coppa Italia final and now a win over Napoli. The creator of the first goal, Kingsley Coman, had easily one of his best games in a Juventus shirt. The young Frenchman was everywhere, creating all kinds of trouble for the shaky Napoli defense. To see him playing so well alongside A?lvaro Morata gives plenty of hope for what might develop in the future. Kwadwo Asamoah was able to play a full 90 minutes after being out for such a massive amount of time. We hadn’t seen Asamoah on the field in a Juventus jersey since Juve beat Olympiakos in the Champions League group stage at the beginning of November. Angelo Ogbonna celebrated his 27th birthday on top of another Scudetto on Saturday. Watching Sturaro play well virtually every time he steps onto the field makes the decision to end his loan spell at Genoa early and bring him to Turin in January even that much smarter. That goal was a thing of beauty, and he just continues to be an absolute battering ram in the center of the park. He didn’t have the Arturo Vidal-like tackle numbers, but he was his usual endless motor self.