Lorenzo Insigne did not miss his penalty this time against Juventus to offer Saturday a nice blow to Naples (1-0) and a good breath of fresh air to his trainer Gennaro Gattuso, during the 22nd day of Serie A.
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Lorenzo Insigne did not miss his penalty this time against Juventus to offer Saturday a nice blow to Naples (1-0) and a good breath of fresh air to his trainer Gennaro Gattuso, during the 22nd day of Serie A.
Thanks to Insigne, who remained on three failures on a penalty against the Bianconeri, and the decisive stops of his goalkeeper Alex Meret, Gattuso gave a lesson of realism to his friend Andrea Pirlo’s Juve.
This third defeat in the league is a warning for the Turinese before their round of 16 of the Champions League in Porto on Wednesday.
“I was calm on the penalty, because I have the confidence of my teammates and the coach, that’s enough for me,” Insigne assured after his hundredth goal in the Neapolitan jersey (all competitions). The penalty was awarded after intervention by the VAR to penalize an unobvious fault by Giorgio Chiellini (31st).
“I’m happy for the result, but above all for the performance of the team, we fought to the end”, he added after a success which brings Naples back to the Top 4 synonymous with the Champions League (tied with Roma and Lazio), two points behind Juve (3rd).
– A “dubious” penalty –
Portuguese Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo annoyed after missing a scoring opportunity in the Serie A game in Napoli on February 13, 2021
Filippo MONTEFORTE – AFP
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In the Diego Maradona refrigerator-like stadium (3 ° C), swept by the wind, Juventus held the ball a lot, pressed with energy, but was unable to deceive an impeccable Meret, in front of Cristiano Ronaldo (49th) then at the end of the match when the temperature climbed on his goal.
“We did not take a shot on target and we lose on a questionable episode,” said Pirlo. The penalty is “doubtful because it means that there can never be any more contact in the area. I would like to see what would have happened if it had been in our favor,” added the Turin coach.
Gattuso himself admitted that “Juve deserved a little better”. “But we played the game we needed, it’s a great victory, we needed for morale,” he added, hoping to soon be able to find the key players he misses (Mertens, Koulibaly, Manolas).
Juve and Napoli have not finished this season because they still have to play the first leg which did not take place in October: the Neapolitans had not made the trip to Turin after two cases of Covid-19 in their workforce .
– Excuses from Conte –
Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte in the Italian Cup semi-final second leg against Juventus in Turin on February 9, 2021
Marco BERTORELLO – AFP/Archives
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This defeat of Juve can also do the business of AC Milan who moved to La Spezia (16th) in the evening to try to increase their lead. Stefano Pioli feared Friday a possible lack of concentration against a poorly classified, but found several holders: Simon Kjaer, Hakan Calhanaglu and Ismaël Bennacer.
Sunday, the runner-up of the Milanese, Inter Milan, welcomes Lazio Rome for a poster scent of the Champions League. For the Laziali, who will face Bayern Munich in the round of 16 in ten days, the Top 4 is the number 1 goal: it would even have the flavor of a scudetto for them, Simone Inzaghi assured Saturday.
The Nerazzurri, them, now dream of scudetto, but the real one. This is their last chance to win a title this season after their elimination from the European and national cups (Tuesday by Juventus in the semi-finals).
Antonio Conte will return to the bench after being suspended the last two matches for a bloody stroke in January against a referee. Decided to avoid another suspension, he apologized after his bad gesture this week in Turin at half-time in the cup match.
The exchanges of insults with the Turin camp, and in particular President Andrea Agnelli, accompanied by an obscene gesture on the part of Conte, are the subject of an investigation by the Italian Federation.
AFP / Naples (Italy) (AFP) / © 2021 AFP
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