Rampant Napoli thrash Juventus to open up 10-point advantage in Serie A

Two of Napoli’s most influential players combined for what could be their most crucial win in this campaign and brought Juventus’s recent revival to a juddering halt.

Victor Osimhen scored twice and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia once, also setting up each other’s goals, to help the Serie A leaders Napoli crush second-placed Juventus 5-1 and open up a 10-point lead.

Ángel Di María halved the deficit for Juventus shortly before half-time but Napoli ran away with it after the break with goals from Amir Rrahmani and Elif Elmas on either side of Osimhen’s second.

The defending champions Milan have a chance to trim the gap to Napoli back to seven points with a win at Lecce on Saturday.

There is a strong rivalry between Napoli and Juventus and the visitors from Turin were roundly jeered by home supporters in Naples when they appeared. Juventus had won eight straight games without conceding a goal and were also able to hand Federico Chiesa his first start since tearing his cruciate ligament over a year ago.

Napoli's Victor Osimhen (centre) celebrates scoring their first goal with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (left) and Giovanni Di Lorenzo. Photograph: Ciro de Luca/Reuters

However, Napoli took the lead in the 14th minute. Wojciech Szczesny brilliantly parried an acrobatic shot from Kvaratskhelia but Osimhen headed in the rebound, the the first goal Juventus had conceded in 770 minutes.

That eventually sparked Juventus into life and Di María hit the crossbar after rushing onto a wayward pass from Rrahmani. Napoli doubled their lead six minutes before the break when Osimhen returned the favour for Kvaratskhelia, rolling across the area for his unmarked teammate to calmly slot into the bottom-right corner.

World Cup winner Di María pulled one back for Juventus three minutes before the break but that proved to be a false dawn for the Bianconeri.

Napoli extended its advantage 11 minutes after the restart when a corner came to Rrahmani in the middle of the area and he blasted it in. Kvaratskhelia and Osimhen combined again in the 65th with the latter heading in a cross from the Georgia forward for his 13th goal in 14 league matches. The humiliation was complete in the 72nd when Elmas’ effort was deflected beyond Szczęsny and into the net.