Juventus edge Napoli in 7-goal Serie A thriller

Sports Desk: Kalidou Koulibaly handed Juventus a dramatic win with a last-gasp own goal that consigned Napoli to a painful 4-3 Serie A defeat after his side had battled back from three goals down to level the scores.

The Senegal international shanked in Paulo Dybala's free-kick under no pressure in the second minute of stoppage time to hand Juve the three points in Turin on Saturday and put Maurizio Sarri's side top with a maximum six points, leaving Napoli with nothing to show for their Herculean efforts.

"It was a rollercoaster. We lost control of the game and got distracted, so they managed to equalise, but fortunately in the end we still won," said Gonzalo Higuain, who spun Koulibaly before slamming home Juve's superb second.

"It is a very important victory. We have a lot to improve, but we gave our all on the pitch and were eventually rewarded."

Koulibaly's blunder undid all of Napoli's good work in fighting back from the dead with less than half-an-hour left, with goals from Danilo just 20 seconds after he came on as a substitute, Higuain -- back at Juventus after loan spells at AC Milan and Chelsea -- and Cristiano Ronaldo giving the reigning champions what looked like an unassailable lead.

However two goals in as many minutes from Kostas Manolas and Hirving Lozano shortly after Ronaldo had made it three brought Napoli back into the game, and Giovanni Di Lorenzo sent the away fans wild with a close-range finish to set up a tense final nine minutes.

But with at least point seemingly in the bag, Koulibaly made it a nightmare end for Carlo Ancelotti's men, who finished on the wrong end of a 4-3 scoreline after winning by the same margin at Fiorentina last weekend.

The champions made light of the absence of captain Giorgio Chiellini, out with anterior cruciate ligament knee injury, and Sarri, who is battling pneumonia and was not on the bench.

Ironically it was Koulibaly whose injury-time winner had given Napoli there only victory in the Allianz Stadium under former coach Sarri in April 2018.

Source: Agencies

 

risingbd/Dhaka/Sep 1, 2019/AI