Result: Napoli 1-0 Juventus
Date: 13 February 2021
Venue: Diego Armando Maradona Stadium
Juventus' Serie A title hopes took another knock after falling to a 1-0 defeat to Napoli on Saturday evening.
Bianconeri made four changes from the win over AS Roma, as Federico Bernardeschi, Rodrigo Bentancur, Matthijs de Ligt and Juan Cuadrado were all recalled while Napoli were bolstered by the return of Victor Osimhen, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Lorenzo Insigne.
The sides were going at each in the opening exchanges but they lacked the creativity in the last third to carve out clear openings.
The game came to life on the half-hour mark after Giorgio Chiellini's raised arm inside the box in anticipation of a cross knocked down Amir Rrahmani and Napoli were awarded a penalty after a Video Assistant Referee (VAR) review and Insigne fired them ahead with a strike into the top corner from 12-yards.
The sides kept on probing in the closing phase of the first stanza, with Juventus struggling to get into another gear while Gennaro Gattuso's charges looked the more likely to extend their lead but they lacked the finishing touches.
Cristiano Ronaldo had a great chance to level matters for Andrea Pirlo's men three minutes from the break after a rebound fell on his path inside the box but his close-range volley was saved by shot-stopper Alex Meret.
Federico Chiesa came close to getting the equaliser for Bianconeri just before the hour-mark with a powerful strike from the edge of the box towards the top corner that was parried away by Meret.
However, Juventus were absorbing the pressure in the closing stages and they nearly got the equaliser in the last quarter of an hour from a counter-attack after Ronaldo went on a run towards the near post but his low shot across goal was saved by Meret with his leg.
Chiesa came close again for the visitors in the last five minutes with a low strike that missed the bottom corner by a whisker and two minutes later Meret pulled off a crucial save to deny Alvaro Morata from close range after a rebound inside the box.
Juventus were camping inside Napoli's box in the dying minutes desperate to get the equaliser but Meret and his defence were not giving anything away and Gli Azzurri held on to a narrow win to go up to fourth on the table while Bianconeri remained in third, seven points behind leaders AC Milan.
