Despite a dominant visiting performance in Calabria, Serie A leaders Juventus could only return north with a point having been held 1-1 by Crotone on Wednesday evening. With Juventus struggling down south, second-placed Napoli fought from behind twice to beat Udinese 4-2.
Juventus took an early lead through Alex Sandro but, uncharacteristically, could not see the game out as Simeon Nwankwo equalised for the Pythagoreans in the second half.
It looked like business as usual for the Bianconeri when Alex Sandro put them ahead on 16 minutes. Douglas Costa was, again, the main man as he whipped a fierce ball into the box allowing his compatriot to flick goal-wards and, indeed, into the back of the net.
From then Juventus’ dominance continued and though their clear-cut chances were not as freely arriving as they would like, they appeared comfortable and capable of scoring if an opportunity was to arise. As Crotone dropped ever deeper, Gonzalo Higuain did have a sight at goal but Alex Cordaz dealt with his effort with relative ease.
The second half started with both teams looking for goal but with every Crotone attack, Douglas Costa and Alex Sandro looked to threaten at the other end and it looked as though Juve’s second was only a matter of time. That was, at least, until the hosts levelled.
Similarly to the game’s opener, the ball was crossed from the left by Marcello Trotta. Trott’s ball wasn’t cleared by the defence and after a couple of scuffed Crotone touches Nwankwo punished the leaders with an acrobatic overhead kick, forcing Juventus to re-live the suffering inflicted upon them by Cristiano Ronaldo in recent weeks.
Ten minutes after conceding their lead, Napoli got in front over Udinese and Crotone further threatened their cushion at the top by pushing on themselves.
As the game closed, it was the hosts who looked the more likely to find the net though for all their attacking intent they struggled to work Wojciech Szczesny, while they looked assured at the back.
The result sees the gap at the top of the table close to just four points again, with Napoli visiting Turin to face Juventus this weekend.
