Higuaín fires Juventus to win over former side Napoli
The controversial summer-signing broke the deadlock with 20 minutes to go as Juventus moved five points clear at the top of the Serie A table.
Higuaín, the match-winner
Gonzalo Higuain scored in his first match against former side Napoli since their bitter divorce in July to give his new club Juventus a barely-deserved 2-1 win on Saturday.
The Argentine, who scored a record 36 league goals for Napoli last season, drilled the ball home in the 71st minute for his seventh goal of the season, which he did not celebrate. Juventus had been struggling to create chances and Higuain had made little impact until then, yet there was an air of inevitability about the goal as Napoli failed to take their chances and made mistakes at the back.
Leonardo Bonucci had volleyed the Serie A leaders in front shortly after the break, taking advantage of a misplaced Faouzi Ghoulam clearance, but Jose Callejón silenced the Juventus stadium with a clinically taken goal just four minutes later.
Bonucci put Juve ahead, Callejón levelled things
There were certainly no hard feelings between Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri and Higuain, who warmly embraced at the start, while Bonucci suggested that the Argentine should celebrate if he scored.
Higuain had just one sniff of goal in a first half of few openings but was well blocked by Vlad Chiriches. Juventus broke the deadlock five minutes after the re-start when Ghoulam completely miscued a clearance, the ball rose into the air and fell invitingly for Bonucci to volley home from 12 metres.
Napoli responded quickly when Lorenzo Insigne dinked a delightful pass over the Juventus back line and Callejon met it first time to side-foot the ball under Gianluigi Buffon. Higuain was not to be denied, though, and put Juventus back in front, meeting the ball perfectly with his left foot to fire his shot past Pepe Reina when Ghoulam's attempted interception fell right into his path.
League-leaders Juventus have 27 points from 11 games, 5 ahead of Roma who visit Empoli on Sunday. Napoli, last season's runners-up, sit in third with 20 points.