The Juventus juggernaut continues to march on despite not being at their best as the Bianconeri defeated Napoli to all but surely wrap up their eighth consecutive Scudetto; a record which is no mean feat, despite the Turin giants' affluent status in Italy.
While many media outlets were quick to point out, how Juve was not as imperious as they ought to be, especially when they have a daunting return leg against Atletico Madrid to overcome, many of these critics tend to miss the salient point of how Juve, continue to grind out these wins due to their unwavering winning mentality.
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Reduced to 10 men after Kevin Macuit's horrendous backpass caused Alex Meret to bring down Cristiano Ronaldo which resulted in Miralem Pjanic scoring through the subsequent free-kick, it seemed as if the footballing gods had once again favoured Juve. And when Emre Can doubled his team's lead, not many gave the home side a chance of redemption.
However, lady luck would soon shine on Carlo Ancelotti's men, starting with the sending off of Pjanic after he accumulated two yellow cards; the latter which was a silly handball to even the numbers on both teams. From then on, Napoli piled on the pressure as Juve continued their retreat leaving Ronaldo a frustratingly isolated figure up front. Ancelotti, realising that Massimiliano Allegri's tactics have given his team a boost to score switched his formation to a back-three allowing his full-backs to bomb forward in search of goals.
Juve was rattled as they defended for their lives at times, but Napoli's pressure would soon pay off as Jose Callejon evaded Giorgio Chiellini to score. All of a sudden it was 2-1 and although the Partenopei had scored, the pressure to get another was on them. Juve for their part, have been in such a situation many times before and Giorgio Chiellini epitomised his team's never-say-die attitude as they repelled a wave of attacks.
This was a match that was filled with high-intensity and drama which was crystallised when late in the second half when referee Gianluca Rocchi, awarded Napoli a penalty after Alex Sandro was adjudged to have used his hand in the penalty area. If there was ever a moment which signified why Allegri's men have been so dominant in Serie A, one can only look towards Lorenzo Insigne's missed penalty. When Napoli needed Insigne the most, their captain buckled under pressure and flapped, the Bianconeri's captain, however, Chiellini never bat an eyelid as he marshalled his troops expertly all night long.
Speaking after the game Nikola Maksimovic mentioned how his team always went through the same routine against the Italian champions, in which they make a mistake and fail to take their chances despite playing better. Maksimovic's words aside, it was simply a case of Juve holding their nerve time and time again. This is a club that lives for victories. After all, their motto is 'winning only matters' and it could be this mentality that may spur the comeback against Diego Simeone's men.