AS Roma 1 - 0 Napoli: Juventus crowned Serie A champions after Napoli suffer late defeat at Roma

Posted Monday, April 25, 2016 by PA

Juventus were finally able to celebrate winning their fifth straight Serie A title after nearest challengers Napoli lost 1-0 at Roma on Monday afternoon.

Ever since the Bianconeri, who have won 24 of their last 25 games, replaced Napoli as league leaders back in February the destination of the Scudetto has appeared to be Turin, and indeed Juve had pulled 12 points clear at the top by beating Fiorentina in Tuscany 18 hours earlier.

Massimiliano Allegri and many of his players watched from the comfort of their Vinovo training base as a late goal from Roma's Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan at the Stadio Olimpico irrevocably ended Napoli's dream of landing a first Italian championship since 1990.

When the festivities die down in Piedmont, Juve can resume their empire building as head coach Allegri is set to sign a new contract with the club he took to the Champions League final last year.

Nerves were fraught in both camps as Napoli needed to win to keep Juve waiting a little longer, while Roma are determined to force their way into second, which was five points away before kick-off.

The Giallorossi threatened first, in the opening minute, as Elseid Hysaj's short clearance allowed Mohamed Salah to let rip. Fortunately for the visitors, the Egyptian winger blasted just over.

As the first half progressed Roma took control of possession and managed their backline so well that Jose Callejon was caught by the offside trap when he broke through to net on 26 minutes.

The Azzurri would manage to fool the Roman defence moments later, though.

Jorginho launched the ball into Gonzalo Higuain's path before the Argentinian shrugged off both Ervin Zukanovic and Antonio Rudiger to send Wojciech Szczesny sprawling with a well-placed shot.

Had the match ended at half-time Napoli would have surrendered the title there and then with Roma no further forward in their own European mission, so something had to change after the break.

Alessandro Florenzi's withdrawal for Maicon was an unexpected switch - the Italy full-back could not continue due to injury - but Roma's Brazilian flyer was soon causing Napoli problems.

His cross-shot was bravely dealt with by Raul Albiol before, at the other end, Higuain eluded Zukanovic to start a counter-attack that culminated with Dries Mertens blasting just wide on the turn.

The game opened up as it entered its final 20 minutes. Albiol rescued Napoli again, with a goal-line clearance when Stephan El Shaarawy came knocking, and Szczesny then made a superb stop against Higuain as the league's top scorer scented his 31st goal of the season.

The subdued Olimpico crowd started to buzz when Roma's veteran striker Francesco Totti - the author of three vital goals from the bench in recent matches - entered the fray with nine minutes to go.

And perhaps the Giallorossi were distracted by the emergence of their 39-year-old cohort as Napoli launched two dangerous raids which caught Roma cold.

First, Lorenzo Insigne's clever ball forward to Higuain required a desperate save from Szczesny and a better follow-up from Rudiger as Marek Hamsik took aim.

Zukanovic was then called into action as David Lopez gathered Hamsik's pass before seeing Roma's Bosnian defender snatch the ball off his feet at the near post.

But as has seemed obvious for some weeks now, there was to be no happy ending for the side from the land of Mount Vesuvius.

With just 60 seconds remaining, Belgian playmaker Nainggolan arrived on the D to hammer the ball beyond the diving Pepe Reina, ensuring the 2015-16 title officially belonged to Juve.