Maurizio Sarri returns to Napoli for the first time ends in agony as his former club beat Juventus 2-1 at San Paolo Stadium, despite Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 8th league game in a row.
It took more than 60 minutes for Napoli to break the deadlock as Piotr Zielinski scored in 63 minutes, before captain Lorenzo Insigne scored the second in 86 minutes.
Juventus who were unable to control the possession and produced a much-lower shots compared to Napoli, pulled one back by Ronaldo in the final minutes of the game.
It was a surprise defeat given that Napoli were 10th in the table, after replacing manager Carlo Ancelotti with former Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso.
“We were passive for the whole game,” said Sarri.
“It was a bland performance, we were caught between pressing and waiting. They only had to do the bare minimum to beat us.”
Gattuso is much happier after suffering a 2-0 defeat at home to Fiorentina last week.
“We have to keep going like this now, not let up and focus on Napoli 24 hours a day,” he said. “I haven’t been here long, but this team have hurt themselves with certain attitudes and behaviour.
“We have been jeered and insulted, often quite rightly, so it’s up to us now to turn things around.”