NAPOLI WIN KEEPS TITLE RACE WIDE OPEN
TURIN: Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly’s stunning last-gasp goal kept Napoli’s title hopes alive with a 1-0 win at Juventus on Sunday closing the gap to just one point on the Serie A champions.
Koulibaly headed in the winner off a Jose Callejon corner in the final minute to give Napoli their first ever victory at the Allianz Stadium.
Six-time defending champions Juventus’s lead at the top of the table has been cut to just one point with four games left. It was just their third league defeat this season and a first since November 19.
Juventus have 85 points from 34 games with Napoli, bidding for a third Scudetto after 1987 and 1990, on 84.
“We knew it was a very difficult and important match, but we did everything to win, we did it and can be proud of ourselves,” said 26-year-old Koulibaly.
“The city fired us up over the last few days and when we see all those fans accompanying us to the airport, it makes us very happy. We want to thank them and the best way of doing that was to win the game.”
Maurizio Sarri’s side pushed forward and had numerous chances, while Juventus, apart from a Miralem Pjanic free-kick hitting the post, created little.
Napoli captain Marek Hamsik threatened twice to break the deadlock while Lorenzo Insigne had a goal disallowed for offside in the first half, before substitute Piotr Zielinski’s late snapshot was cleared by Gianluigi Buffon.
“It was not the perfect match but it was a great match: we did not concede anything to Juventus and the victory was a logical consequence of this attitude,” said Sarri.
“What is certain is that winning here is always very difficult and wonderful, it’s a huge satisfaction, but we must also remain lucid because at the moment it remains an end to itself.”
The champions now have a difficult run-in to the season, including trips to Inter Milan and Roma -- both fighting for Champions League places.
Napoli will play Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Torino and Crotone in their final four matches.
Inter are a point further back in fifth, just outside the Champions League places, after a hard-fought 2-1 win over Chievo. Top scorer Mauro Icardi put Inter ahead early in the second half with his 26th Serie A goal this season before Ivan Perisic added a second.
FANS WELCOME TEAM
About 2,000 Napoli fans had accompanied the team to the airport for the flight to Turin. More than 15,000 waited for their return early on Monday morning.
Still celebrating the victory that put the team only one point behind Juventus in the standings, Napoli fans packed the roads to the airport and people even abandoned their cars to walk because of the congestion. The team bus took nearly two hours to travel a few hundred meters to the highway on its way back to the training ground - where another several hundred fans were waiting.