Conte’s return to Juventus starts with boos and ends 0-0

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This article was published 21/09/2024 (734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MILAN (AP) — Antonio Conte’s return to Juventus and into a packed stadium started with jeers for the former Bianconeri hero.

It ended 0-0 between Juventus and Conte’s Napoli, which created the better chances on Saturday in Turin.

A third straight goalless draw for Juventus in Serie A ended a run of three wins for Napoli.

Conte, who also played for Juventus for 13 years, led the Bianconeri to the first three of its nine consecutive Serie A titles before leaving in acrimonious circumstances in 2014.

He has been back to Allianz Stadium as coach of Juve’s fierce rival Inter Milan but on all three occasions there were no fans present because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 55-year-old now coaches another Bianconeri enemy. There were loud boos when the Napoli team was read out, and that seemed to increase when Conte’s name was announced.

Former Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay was given his first start by Conte and he almost broke the deadline in the 29th minute but Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio did well to parry his effort and smother the Romelu Lukaku follow-up.

Di Gregorio did even better in first half stoppage time with a fantastic fingertip save to keep out a Matteo Politano free kick.

Politano almost scored a sublime goal early in the second half. He surged down the right and cut inside but his finish was just over the bar from the edge of the area.

Juve’s best chance came in the 70th when Teun Koopmeiners curled narrowly over the bar.

Horror injury

United States midfielder Gianluca Busio helped Venezia to its first victory of the season, 2-0 over Genoa, which was shaken by a terrible injury to Ruslan Malinovskyi.

The Genoa midfielder sustained a horrific-looking lower-leg fracture early in the second half when he caught his studs on the turf and his right ankle turned under him.

Players put their heads in their hands after seeing Malinovskyi’s foot facing the wrong way.

Busio won a penalty in the 58th when he was bundled over by Genoa defender Koni De Winter. Joel Pohjanpalo’s spot kick was powerful and precise but was fantastically saved by Pierluigi Gollini.

However, Venezia took the lead five minutes later in somewhat fortunate circumstances. Busio put what was definitely a cross into the box but no one managed to get on the end of it and it bounced off the turf and in off the right post.

It was Busio’s second Serie A goal and his first since a stoppage-time equalizer against Cagliari almost three years ago.

Pohjanpalo all but secured the win five minutes from time when he tapped in John Yeboah’s cross at the far post.

Stoppage-time drama

Parma scored two goals in stoppage time at Lecce to snatch a 2-2 draw. Both teams finished with 10 men.

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Lecce thought it won but former Lecce winger Pontus Almqvist pulled one back in the third minute of stoppage time and Antoine Hainaut headed in the equalizer three minutes later.

Lecce was leading through a first-half goal from Patrick Dorgu when defender Frédéric Guilbert was shown a straight red card for what appeared to be a slap on Parma forward Matteo Cancellieri shortly after the interval.

However, Cancellieri was sent off 10 minutes later for a poor tackle on Dorgu just outside the area as he was sprinting clear on the counter. Nikola Krstović’s resulting free kick was deflected in.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer