Ronaldo-less Juventus lose at Napoli

Morata

Alvaro Morata

By News Agency

Juventus remained winless in Serie A and slumped to their second consecutive defeat since Ronaldo went back to Manchester United.

The Italian giants lost 1-2 to Napoli on Saturday.

Napoli center back Kalidou Koulibaly scored five minutes from time after Moise Kean inexplicably headed the ball toward his own goal following a Napoli corner, setting up a tap-in for Koulibaly.

Matteo Politano equalized for Napoli near the hour mark following Álvaro Morata´s opener for Juventus 10 minutes in at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

Juventus remained with just one point from a 2-2 draw at Udinese in its season opener.

With Massimiliano Allegri having returned as Juventus coach after Andrea Pirlo´s unsuccessful tenure last season ended a run of nine straight Italian league titles, Juventus also lost at home to promoted Empoli before the international break.

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The loss to Empoli came a day after Ronaldo´s transfer while this defeat came on the day that Ronaldo scored twice on his return to United after 12 years in a 4-1 victory over Newcastle in the English Premier League.

Napoli, meanwhile, has won all three of its matches under new coach Luciano Spalletti and moved three points clear of Lazio, Inter Milan, Roma and AC Milan, which each play on Sunday.

The equalizer came when Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny didn´t do enough to control a long-range curled effort from Lorenzo Insigne and Politano slotted it in from near the `keeper´s left post.

Morata´s goal came following a defensive error from Kostas Manolas, who was attempting an ill-advised pass back to goalkeeper David Ospina. Morata took possession instead and beat Ospina from a sharp angle.

It was Morata´s first goal of the season after scoring 20 in 44 matches across all competitions last season for Juventus.

United States midfielder Weston McKennie played the opening 72 minutes for Juventus despite being banned from a pair of U.S. World Cup qualifiers for violating the national team´s COVID-19 protocols.

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