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- Gatti rises for another goal to put Juventus back on top
Gatti rises for another goal to put Juventus back on top
Federico Gatti's cult status at Juventus was cemented further as the Bianconeri securd a 1-0 victory over defending champion Napoli to go back on top of Serie A for at least 24 hours.
Gatti scored from a towering header in the 51st minute to seal the three points, leaping between Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Amir Rrahmani to bury Andrea Cambiaso's perfect delivery from the right touchline, netting his third goal of an astonishing season.
Napoli thought it had equalised barely 20 minutes after going behind when Matteo Politano pounced on an errant pass out by Juve goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Politano found Victor Osimhen, who scored from just outside the box with Szczesny stranded, but the Nigerian was offside when he received the ball.
Osimhen was involved in Napoli's best chance of the match in the first half with the scores still unbroken and Napoli having started the brighter of the two sides at Allianz Stadium.
He gathered a long ball and squared it perfectly from the right for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who was completely alone as he bore down on Szczesny's goal in the 28th minute. But the Georgian, who with Osimhen was so deadly as Napoli marched to the title last season, fluffed his lines and squirted his attempt well off target.
Szczesny was in the thick of the action again 10 minutes later as he produced a stunning reflex save from Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who had been gifted a clear sight of goal after Bremer inadvertently headed the ball off team-mate Gatti.
Victory has Juventus one-point clear of Inter Milan, which plays Udinese next, which third-placed AC Milan faces Atalanta.
Two defeats in a row for Napoli may well have extinguished any hopes of defending the Scudetto it won so majestcally last season, with Walter Mazzarri's men now 12 points off top spot and back in fifth on the ladder.
Mazzarri has now won just one of his first four games in charge since returning to Napoli for a second spell, and hasn't seen his side score in three of its past four matches in the Italian top flight, a remarkable change from last season when it netted 77 in total, making it the highest scoring side in the division.
