Napoli Vs Juventus [2–1] – Serie A 2025/2026: Why Antonio Conte Tactics Are Taking Control Of The Title Race – Tactical Analysis

Napoli hosted Juventus for the 14^th fixture of Serie A at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona; the game ended with an entertaining Napoli win that keeps them in the title race.

Napoli have looked great since the international break despite numerous injuries limiting the team’s options, especially in midfield.

Those injuries did not affect the team’s results, confirming that this side and its players have the personality and the high level of responsibility needed to challenge for the title until the last fixture.

And with the direct title rivals dropping points, Napoli are making significant strides towards confirming their place among the top three, especially with crucial wins against teams like Juventus.

On the other hand, Juventus have not been good enough in terms of results, with a few draws and only a win in the last league game before losing to Napoli.

Juventus missed the chance of getting even closer to the top four and retreated to the seventh spot following this loss.

More stability and clearer ideas are definitely needed for the team to perform consistently and avoid confusion on big occasions.

In this tactical analysis article, our attention will be centred on Napoli’s attacking solutions in this match and how they exploited Juventus’ defensive weaknesses to create several goal-scoring chances.

The analysis will also shed light on Juventus’ tactical experimentation and on how they scored their only goal of the game.

Watch Napoli Vs Juventus Tactical Analysis On YouTube

Napoli Vs Juventus Lineups & Formations

Antonio Conte started the match in a 3-4-3 formation, with Vanja Milinković-Savić as goalkeeper and a defensive line of Sam Beukema, Alessandro Buongiorno, and Amir Rrahmani.

The midfield was made up of Eljif Elmas (given the recent injury of Stanislav Lobotka) and Scott McTominay as central midfielders, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Mathías Olivera as wing-backs, with David Neres and Noa Lang as wingers, and Rasmus Højlund as the main striker.

On the other hand, Luciano Spalletti preferred the 3-4-1-2 formation, with Michele Di Gregorio as the goalkeeper and Pierre Kalulu, Lloyd Kelly, and Teun Koopmeiners as centre-backs.

The midfield consisted of Manuel Locatelli and Khéphren Thuram as central midfielders, with both Juan Cabal and Andrea Cambiaso as wing-backs.

Up front, Juventus attacked with Weston McKennie as an advanced playmaker and both Francisco Conceição and Kenan Yıldız as strikers.

Napoli Wing Threats

Napoli started the match in the best possible way as they did not allow Juventus to attack or build from the back easily, thanks to their relatively high defensive block and efficient man-marking.

This not only limited Juventus’ playmaking attempts but also helped Juventus win the ball back in key areas, allowing Napoli to launch their lethal counter-attacks.

In fact, since the end of the latest international break and Conte‘s change of formation to the 3-4-3, as well as the reliance on both Lang and Neres on the wings, a lot of things have changed positively for Napoli.

The team’s attacking transitions became much more dangerous, more vertical, and much quicker than before.

Furthermore, the trio of Lang, Neres, and Højlund has been looking extremely complementary and efficient inside the final third.

David Neres Key Passing And McTominay Finishing

One of the first times Napoli regained possession saw a dangerous counter-attacking move on the right wing following Neres’ interception of the ball from Cabal.

However, Neres was not decisive with his decision-making when he reached the box and made the less dangerous decision by waiting for Di Lorenzo’s overlap.

Waiting for Di Lorenzo was the most anticipated and expected decision, and that’s why Koopmeiners was easily able to intercept the pass with a sliding tackle, apart from the fact that Di Lorenzo received the pass in an offside position.

Instead of waiting for Di Lorenzo, Neres could have surprised Juventus’ defence with a through pass to Højlund, who would have made the movement of anticipating his direct marker and shoot on target.

David Neres One-Vs-One Efficiency & Rasmus Højlund Goal

Soon after, Neres was good enough to provide an excellent cross to McTominay.

Still, the latter missed the target by just a few inches, highlighting the team’s work on corner-kicks and on the successful alternation of solutions during these set-pieces.

More importantly, Neres progressively became even more dangerous on the right wing as he was the direct reason for scoring Napoli’s first goal.

In fact, Neres’ quick movements without the ball and his ability to provide passing solutions have helped him touch the ball more per match and put himself in dangerous situations.

During the goal action, he tried to use half-spaces while asking for the ball from Di Lorenzo, and as soon as he realised it was not possible, he immediately made a forward run to get a through pass in space.

Koopmeiners was unable to keep up with Neres’ pace or his quick dribbling.

This was evident in the two actions mentioned, and it was therefore a mistake to rely on Koopmeiners to defend against a dangerous winger like Neres.

What is even more alarming is that Koopmeiners had to face such situations alone, one-on-one, against one of the most dangerous wingers in the league at the moment.

Spalletti should have instructed either Cabal or Thuram to strictly help Koopmeiners during such actions and avoid one-vs-one duels against Neres.

Underestimating Neres’ potential threat on the right eventually led to the goal-scoring action, in which Neres faced Koopmeiners and easily eliminated him before providing a perfect right-footed assist to Højlund.

The finishing of Højlund, especially his movement without the ball, also deserves a lot of credit, since Højlund’s movement was crucial to scoring the goal.

Getting just behind Kelly at a key moment to accelerate without the defender noticing in time was very intelligent from Højlund, as it helped him win precious milliseconds in the duel with Kelly.

What followed was the anticipation of Kelly and the accurate sliding finish to conclude an exemplary attacking action that highlights both Neres and Højlund’s value and chemistry while exposing Juventus’ unconvincing defensive plans and choices, in addition to Kelly’s passive marking.

David Neres Impact Of The Movements On The Left-Wing

Neres not only posed a threat on the right wing against Juventus but was also very dynamic and effective in other positions in the final third.

He leaned near Lang to offer passing solutions and create dangerous situations by exploiting the spaces left inside Juventus’ final third.

At the same time, Juventus’ defence looked passive and were unable to mark Neres tightly, while also following him without thinking about the consequences.

In other words, Neres’ leaning to the left wing created more space for Højlund inside the box and put him in a duel against Koopmeiners.

This was another big mistake by Juventus, as Koopmeiners is not a proper defender and cannot be that reliable at marking strikers in situations like this.

But since Kelly was following Neres on the left wing while leaving Højlund unmarked inside the box, Koopmeiners was obliged to mark Højlund instead.

This action could have led to a second goal for Napoli; the only reason for missing it was Højlund’s inability to reach the cross in time (with a few milliseconds of delay), and not Koopmeiners’ defending.

Napoli Second Goal Action

Following Juventus’ equaliser and their attempts to gain more possession and score the second goal, Napoli continued to rely mainly on their attacking transitions and dangerous crosses, especially from Neres’ side.

Napoli used set-pieces in a very dangerous way as well, relying on a set-piece plan that focuses on one-two passes and then powerful crosses towards the far post.

These crosses posed a danger at corners and in open play as well, with Neres ensuring consistency in their accuracy.

The second goal action was also born from a Neres left-footed cross.

It was oriented towards Lang, who was positioned on the far post.

This obliged his direct marker to touch the ball in an attempt to prevent it from reaching Lang.

But instead, the ball went directly to Højlund, who reacted quickly to exploit the deflection and score the decisive goal of the match.

Juventus Late Reaction, Goal, & Lineup Experimentation

Spalletti made significant changes to the attacking trio that started the match, using both Yıldız and Conceição as strikers and McKennie as an advanced playmaker who would retreat and play as a central midfielder when out of possession.

Therefore, Juventus played in a 5-3-2 when not in possession and in a 3-4-1-2 when in possession.

Despite that, Spalletti’s changes created some confusion in how Juventus approached the game, as the team looked disunited and unable to create or attack efficiently in the first half.

This cost Juventus a lot of time and led to numerous chances for Napoli, due to defensive mistakes and a lack of coverage on the wings.

Although Juventus started to play better and progressively threatened Napoli’s goal, it was difficult for them to score as both Yıldız and Conceição stayed on the wings and did not disturb Napoli inside the box.

In the second half, Juventus tried to reach the box with more concrete attempts and were successful on a few occasions.

And in the action when Yıldız made a forward run into the box, Juventus were capable of creating the goal action, especially following a well-built attacking transition that resembles those made by Napoli.

With McKennie receiving the ball on the right wing, Yıldız attacked the space inside the box and received an assist from McKennie to finish with success, even though the angle was extremely complicated to score from.

This was one of the actions that further confirmed Yıldız’s talent and that he resembles Alessandro Del Piero in many ways.

The finish was one Del Piero used to score goals throughout his career, recalling that he scored a very similar goal against Milan in 2008.

Juventus were unable to preserve their equaliser, however, as they failed to resist Napoli’s attempts and were unable to add a second goal.

Conclusion

Napoli were the better side in this game as they showed and confirmed that they wanted the win more than Juventus.

More importantly, the clear ideas and chemistry between the players helped Napoli be the better side from the first minute.

In contrast, Juventus lost a lot of time finding the correct positions, especially in attack.

Juventus also took a long time to learn how to threaten Napoli effectively, and, unfortunately for them, they discovered it too late, as Napoli were already ahead on the score sheet.