No Ronaldo, no wins for Juventus after losing at Napoli 2-1

ROME (AP) — No Cristiano Ronaldo. No wins for Juventus.

The Bianconeri remained winless in Serie A and slumped to their second consecutive defeat since Ronaldo went again to Manchester United after shedding at Napoli 2-1 on Saturday.

Napoli heart again Kalidou Koulibaly scored 5 minutes from time after Moise Kean inexplicably headed the ball towards his personal objective following a Napoli nook, organising a tap-in for Koulibaly.

Matteo Politano equalized for Napoli close to the hour mark following Álvaro Morata’s opener for Juventus 10 minutes in at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

“We have to change the best way we play,” Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini stated. “When you’ve got a celebrity like Ronaldo you possibly can’t not play for him. … We needs to be grateful to Cristiano for these years at Juventus however we have to transfer on.”

Juventus remained with only one level from a 2-2 draw at Udinese in its season opener. With Massimiliano Allegri having returned as Juventus coach after Andrea Pirlo’s unsuccessful tenure final season ended a run of 9 straight Italian league titles, Juventus additionally misplaced at residence to promoted Empoli earlier than the worldwide break.

The loss to Empoli got here a day after Ronaldo’s switch, whereas this defeat got here on the day that Ronaldo scored twice in his first match and win for United in 12 years within the English Premier League.

“We put in a worse efficiency towards Empoli however as we speak sadly we paid the worth for errors,” Allegri stated. “In soccer, if you don’t win, you possibly can solely shut up and work exhausting.”

Juventus doesn’t have a lot time to coach, although, earlier than touring to Sweden for its Champions League opener towards Malmö on Tuesday.

Napoli, in the meantime, has received all three of its matches below new coach Luciano Spalletti and moved three factors away from Lazio, Inter Milan, Roma, AC Milan and Fiorentina, which received at Atalanta 2-1.

“I’ve bought to thank Spalletti for making the group strong,” Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis stated of the previous Roma, Zenit St. Petersburg and Inter coach. “I selected Spalletti as a result of he’s diligent, orderly and handles issues firmly, simply the best way I prefer it. You’ll be able to discuss to him and he doesn’t get offended when you ask for a proof, as a result of he isn’t haunted by his ego.”

The equalizer got here when Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny didn’t do sufficient to manage a long-range curled effort from Lorenzo Insigne and Politano slotted it in from close to the ’keeper’s left put up.

Morata’s objective got here following a defensive error from Kostas Manolas, who was trying an ill-advised cross again to goalkeeper David Ospina. Morata took possession as an alternative and beat Ospina from a pointy angle.

United States midfielder Weston McKennie performed the opening 72 minutes for Juventus regardless of being banned from a pair of U.S. World Cup qualifiers for violating the nationwide group’s COVID-19 protocols.

McKennis additionally missed Juventus’ derby towards Torino in April after violating COVID-19 protocols in Italy.

Allegri wanted McKennie’s providers after deciding to not use South American gamers Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado, Rodrigo Bentancur, Danilo and Alex Sandro as a result of that they had simply returned from worldwide responsibility.

ATALANTA STRUGGLES

Dušan Vlahović transformed two penalties for Fiorentina in a 2-1 win at Atalanta, which was anticipated to contend for the title however has just one win in three matches.

Duván Zapata pulled one again for Atalanta however Fiorentina goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano saved a number of potential equalizers.

VENEZIA’S BACK

Venezia earned its first factors in Serie A in practically 20 years after beating Serie B champion Empoli 2-1.

Again within the prime division for the primary time since 2002, Venezia’s targets got here from two newly acquired gamers: French ahead Thomas Henry and Nigerian striker David Okereke.

___

Extra AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

___

Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf