Serie A
Result: Juventus 4-3 Napoli
Date: 31 August 2019
Venue: Juventus Stadium
Cristiano Ronaldo opened his account for the season as Juventus defeated Napoli in a seven-goal thriller on Saturday evening.
Maurizio Sarri handed Matthijs de Ligt his first start following the knee injury to Giorgio Chiellini, while Cristiano Ronaldo and Douglas Costa flanked Gonzalo Higuain upfront. Bianconeri grabbed the lead in the 16th minute courtesy of Danilo, who scored barely a minute after replacing the injured Mattia De Sciglio, by turning home a cross from Douglas Costa. Higuain quickly doubled the lead for Sarri's charges three minutes later after getting past defender Kalidou Koulibaly to volley home against his former employers. Sami Khedira almost netted a third for the Old Lady on the half-hour mark, but his powerful strike from distance rattled the Napoli crossbar with the goalkeeper well beaten. The exchanges in the early stages of the second stanza were open but Bianconeri were more clinical as Ronaldo bagged the third goal in the 62nd minute with left footed effort from close-range. However, Konstantinos Manolas pulled a goal back for Partenopei three minutes later with a thumping header at the back post, following a cross from Mario Rui. Hirving Lozano got the second goal for Napoli 22 minutes before time with a side-footed shot to mark his Napoli debut with a goal after some good work by Piotr Zielinski. Giovanni Di Lorenzo remarkably equalised for the visitors nine minutes before time with an effort off his thigh at the back post, following a dipping free-kick from Jose Callejon. With the game seemingly destined for a draw, Koulibaly gifted Bianconeri a dramatic winner in stoppage time after guided a cross into his own net.
