Matthijs De Ligt had a night to forget against Napoli in his Juventus debut.
Matthijs De Ligt was forced to wait until the second game for his Juventus debut. The centre-back was slotted into the starting eleven after the Skipper Giorgio Chiellini’s injury, which will force him out for six months.
The 19-year-old was bought with a long-term vision, but Maurizio Sarri would have been disappointed with his debut performance against Napoli. The game ended 4-3, thanks to an own goal from Kalidou Koulibaly in the stoppage time.
The Old Lady lead 3-0 in the second half, but the side from Naples scripted the comeback through goals from Kostas Manolas, Hirving Lozano, and Giovanni Di Lorenzo in the second half. As for Juventus, Danilo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain scored within 65 minutes to take the three-goal lead. It was an exceptional comeback from Carlo Ancelloti’s side, who were unfortunate to miss out on a point.
Kostas Manolas scored the first goal for the Italian side in the 66th minute. The Greek International leapt Matthijs De Ligt to find the back of the net.
Goal Manolas. Good header. pic.twitter.com/SmtXUfKQ61
— Para (@Paracelsus) August 31, 2019
Napoli pulled another back through Hirving Lozano, this time from open play, and once again it was the former Ajax defender who lost the man he was marking.
NAHHH LUCAS MOURA FINISHED DE LIGT I STG LOOK AT THIS GUY pic.twitter.com/bUD4caeOcQ
— Abdul ❄️ (@AbdulTHFC) August 31, 2019
Lozano, himself moved from the Eredivisie to Serie A in the summer, embarrassed De Ligt for a second time in the game, shimmying past the defender and leaving him on the floor before someone else had to clean up his mess by fouling the Mexican.
LMFAO de Ligt gets his ankles broken then tells Lozano to stand up after the foul pic.twitter.com/jumcfXJX7t
— Para (@Paracelsus) August 31, 2019
For the third goal through the free-kick, De Ligt was easily beaten to the header scored by Giovanni Di Lorenzo.
Giovanni Di Lorenzo has done it for Napoli 💙
It’s 3-3 🤯
What a comeback and what a game! 👏 pic.twitter.com/7kOBsys9ax
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) August 31, 2019
The former Juventus Skipper got lucky as Kalidou Koulibaly scored into his net in the stoppage time to gift three points to Juventus.