Serie A leaders Juventus came from 2 goals down to draw with Napoli at the San Paolo stadium in a enthralling Serie A fixture last night. Goals from Hamsik and Pandev in the first half put the host in the driving seat and in position to secure all points on offer before a resurgent Bianconeri responded with goals from Matri, Marcelo Estigarribia and Simone Pepe saved Juventus from suffering their first loss of the season.
The draw leaves Juventus still leading the table with 26 points 2 ahead of second place Milan. The match also saw Juventus great Alessandro Del Piero make his 700th appearance for the club.
Only Milan’s Paolo Maldini has made more appearances for a single club with the defender featuring 859 times for the Rossonerri. However, the sad news for Juventus is that Del Piero has announced that he will be leaving Juve at the end of the season.
Speaking to repoters in a prior interview, this is what Del Piero had to say:
“I suffer on the bench but as captain I am delighted with the good run of form by the team,”
“It’s such a great time with Juventus at the top of Serie A that I don’t see why I should think about my future right now.”
Prior to the fixture, pressure was mounting on coach Antonio Conte as the hosts had already beaten both Milan sides and were looking to make it 3 in 3 with a win against Juve. Juventus were indeed heading for defeat before they picked up in the second half and earned a draw.
Although Juve avoided defeat, Conte know’s very well that any slip up in the coming matches would be extremely dangerous. Juventus next face Cesena at home this Sunday before travelling to Rome the following weekend to play capital club As Roma.
Their nearest challengers Milan have relatively easy matches on their cards with an away trip to Genoa this Friday before taking on Plzen in the Champions League and Bologna the following weekend.
I have to admit the league is getting more and more interesting and it could be the most competitive season in quite some time.
Photo Credit © salvatoregiambelluca