Juventus hold out for tense draw at Napoli
MILAN, April 3, (AP): Gonzalo Higuain’s every touch was greeted with whistles and jeers by his former fans but the Argentina forward had little impact as Juventus could only draw 1-1 at Napoli in Serie A.
It was Higuain’s first time back at Napoli since his move to bitter rival Juventus for an Italian-record 90 million euros ($100 million) after scoring 36 goals last season to break a 66-year-old Serie A record.
Higuain, who has not scored in five matches, was largely anonymous.
“Higuain had a good game, I’m happy with him,” Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri said. “He should be grateful to Napoli for what it gave him and Napoli should be grateful to him for what he did.”
Thousands of blue whistles had been handed out before the match and they were used often by Napoli supporters to vent their hatred toward their former hero.
They will have another opportunity on Wednesday, when the two teams meet again in the second leg of their Italian Cup semifinal, which Juventus leads 3-1.
League leader Juventus moved six points clear of Roma. Napoli remained third, 10 points below the Bianconeri.
“When a team plays like Napoli did tonight, a coach can go home with all sorts of emotions apart from disappointment,” Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri said. “Never in Italy have we seen Juventus in such difficulty.”
It took Juventus less than seven minutes to take the lead when Sami Khedira played a one-two with Miralem Pjanic and slotted past Napoli goalkeeper Rafael, who was standing in for the injured Pepe Reina.
Napoli dominated but Marek Hamsik and Lorenzo Insigne sent efforts wide, while Dries Mertens fired straight at Gianluigi Buffon.
Jose Callejon had the ball in the back of the net in the 56th but it was ruled out for offside.
Napoli’s pressure paid off four minutes later as Mertens played in a delightful through ball which Hamsik curled into the top right corner.
Napoli almost doubled its tally four minutes later as Mertens ran onto a woeful back pass from Juventus midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah but his effort came off the right post.
Striker Mario Balotelli equalized from the penalty spot and then helped to create the winner as Nice rallied to beat Bordeaux 2-1 in the French league.
The win moved third-placed Nice one point behind Paris Saint-Germain and four behind leader Monaco, although they both have a game in hand on Nice, which hosts PSG at the end of April.
All of Balotelli’s 11 league goals this season have been scored at home, and the Italian forward confidently struck a 16th-minute penalty after veteran midfielder Jeremy Toulalan was adjudged to have fouled right back Arnaud Soquet as he burst into the area.
Bordeaux had taken the lead in the ninth minute thanks to a fine goal from Gaetan Laborde. The striker took advantage of an error from Nice’s Brazilian center half Dante to break into the penalty area, beat two defenders and score with an angled finish.
After leveling from the penalty spot, Balotelli showed clever anticipation to cushion a pass into the path of midfielder Valentin Eysseric, who turned to hit a brilliant curling strike past goalkeeper Cedric Carrasso in the 27th minute from just outside the penalty area.
There were no goals in the second half but Bordeaux missed four chances, with forward Francois Kamano missing an open goal and missing with another strike.