Juventus v Napoli: Serie A – live!

Half-time reading

Entertaining stuff. Would love to be a fly on the wall of Napoli’s dressing room. Tactically they’ve been all over the place, but they still carry a threat of course with Mertens and Insigne. I would love to see Lozano in the second half.

45+1 min: This is an incredibly open match. The quality in the final third has generally been poor from both teams, but Higuain and Costa have been the difference.

44 min: Di Lorenzo is the next into the book for a late tackle on Alex Sandro. The right back knows that was a bad challenge, grimaces and holds his hands up in apology. Yellow.

42 min: Ancelotti has long this tactical battle so far. Napoli don’t have a discernible shape, in possession or not. That said, the game is quite open, and fair end to end. First Ronaldo drives into the box, but loses his footing under the challenge of Callejon. No penalty. Then Napoli stream forward, it’s three on four – Insigne tries to work some space on the edge, but a magnificent standing tackle from Bonucci dispossesses the tiny Napoli forward.

40 min: Yellow card for Ghoulam, who trips Costa with an pretty ugly-looking tackle on Juventus’s right wing.

38 min: De Ligt looks like he’s been playing in this side for a decade. So composed on the ball.

36 min: Napoli started to play a little better now, Fabian and Zielinski have finally started stringing some passes together.

34 min: Another stoppage, as Bonucci receives further treatment for that cut. There’s a fair bit of blood, but he should be OK to carry on.

33 min: Napoli just can’t deal with Juventus’s high press. Zielinski is going spare in the middle of the pitch as he tries to organise his teammates.

31 min: Khedira now hits the underside of the bar! Napoli are living a charmed life here, and lucky that Khedira’s shot wasn’t an inch lower. The ball cannons off the crossbar, just avoids the despairing Meret and Koulibaly hacks it clear!

29 min: Golden chance for Khedira! Oooooo, what a save from Meret, who is brave at diving at the German’s feet to deflect it over for a corner. This all came about due to one of the most outrageous passes from Higuain. I genuinely have no idea how the Argentinian saw the run of Khedira, who was completely on Higuain’s blindside – must have got a shout. Still, that is one of the passes of the season. If Juve go three up, you’d have to say that would be curtains for Napoli.

25 min: Pjanic is starting to pull the strings in midfield. Juventus are looking the dominant side now, as Ronaldo starts to get some tricks and flicks out.

23 min: We’ve got a stoppage in play, with Bonucci going down in a heap after jumping with Koulibaly at a corner. Replays show that Koulibaly did catch Bonucci with an elbow, with the Italian is all too keen to convey to the referee. It was probably accidental. Probably. In any case, there is no card brandished and the bleeding Bonucci is OK to continue, after a bit of treatment.

It had to be him! Higuain, who hasn’t had a sniff so far this evening, scores a sensational goal against his former side. Again it was Juventus down the left, this time with Matuidi, and the Frenchman against squares the ball inside the Napoli box. Higuain kills the ball, spins on a sixpence to leave Koulibaly clutching thin air, and lashes it into the top corner. Wow! Wow! Wow! That is an assassin’s finish. Higuain had THREE defenders around him and still carved some space out in the box.

VAR check: the officials are just making sure that this didn’t hit a Juventus hand prior to their counter-attack. Fabian had a shot at goal, but it hit Bonucci on the neck/shoulder. Goal given!

Thirty seconds after coming on, Danilo scores his first Juventus goal! Straight from the corner, Juventus break in numbers. Costa carries the ball the length of the pitch on the left wing, breaks into the box, chops inside and squares it perfectly to Danilo, who was up in support. A first-time shot hits Meret, but deflects into the net! What an introduction!

15 min: De Sciglio looks like he’s got a problem, he’s going to have to be replaced! Unclear as to why. Danilo comes on his place. Straight swap.

14 min: Great save from Szczęsny! This so easily could have been 1-0, with Allan taking aim from the edge of the box. The former Arsenal keeper got just one hand to it, but turned it around the post.

13 min: Juventus have probably shaded the opening exchanges. Most of their play has come down the right, and Costa breaks forward once more. Koulibaly is caught up the pitch, but a poor De Sciglio cross and excellent covering from Allan means Juventus’s attack breaks down.

9 min: Which is the better centre-back partnership? Bonucci and De Ligt or Manolas and Koulibaly? It’s a close one, but I probably just prefer the Napoli pair, mainly because they’ve both got pace to burn.

7 min: Both De Sciglio and Costa on Juventus right wing have started very strongly. Insigne and Ghoulam look a little rusty.

5 min: Matuidi neatly flicks the ball onto Ronaldo, who is forced wide but unleashes a ridiculous thwack at goal. The ball flies at 80mph right at Meret, who is able to palm it away. That was travelling, Ronaldo’s first sighter.

4 min: Can you marry a tackle? Ronaldo drops deep and finds some space for the first time, but loses the ball as Koulibaly makes an inch-perfect slide on the Portuguese. Hard, but fair.

3 min: Looks like Napoli are lining up with a back three when they have the ball, and a back four when Juventus have it.

1 min: The Juventus fans shout Chiellini’s name, and the Italian defender just about gets to his feet to accept the acclaim.

So no Sarri in the dugout, although he is somewhere in the stadium, probably chain smoking.

Chiellini is here, sitting in the stands with his crutches, and with his leg heavily strapped.

Bonucci and Insigne shake hands at the toss. There’s a full foot between them in height. The two are good friends from the national side and were joking in the tunnel a few moments ago.

Remember, the transfer window is still open in Italy. That closes Monday night, and rumours are that Napoli are going to add Fernando Llorente to their squad.

Nicky Bandini started her first Serie A blog of the season talking about Napoli’s sensational 4-3 win over Fiorentina. It was some game.

We’ve had one other Serie A match today, Milan v Brescia. This is how it went down, courtesy of Reuters.

AC Milan coach Marco Giampaolo earned his first win at the club as Hakan Calhanoglu struck early to clinch a 1-0 home victory over Brescia in Serie A on Saturday.

The 18-times Italian champions failed to muster a single shot on target when they fell to a shock 1-0 defeat away to Udinese on the opening weekend.

Yet Calhanoglu’s headed goal after 12 minutes settled the nerves of the San Siro crowd and proved to be decisive in a cagey encounter.

Milan take on another newly-promoted side when they travel to Hellas Verona after the international break.

As expected, De Ligt starts, but Gonzalo Higuín continues to be preferred to Paolo Dybala, much to the frustration of many Juve fans.

Napoli are more or less as expected – Gholam is preferred to Mario Rui at left back. Watch out for Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano on the bench. This is his first involvement in a Napoli squad since his £34.4m move from PSV Eindhoven. He’s a special player.

Italy has many derbies, and because the Italians are a romantic sort, and their culture is a constant reference point to history, many of them have some splendid nicknames. The Derby della Lanterna between Genoa and Sampdoria is derived from the Torre della Lanterna, the ancient landmark in Genoa. The Derby della Madonnina is named after the statue that sits atop of Milan’s cathedral. The Derby della Scala, between Chievo and Hellas Verona, refers to the Scaligeri or della Scala aristocratic family, who were rulers of Verona during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance.

Juventus v Napoli doesn’t have a name. But few would argue that this (and the reverse fixture in Naples) are the highlights of the Serie A calendar, featuring the two best football teams in Italy.

There are many questions to be answered tonight. Will Maurizio Sarri return to the dugout, following his bout of pneumonia? If he does, what sort of reception will he receive from the travelling Napoli fans – this is his first encounter with them since he left the southern club for Chelsea just over a year ago.

Sarri, who has continued smoking cigarettes through his recovery – which saw him miss Juventus’s 1-0 win over Parma on the opening weekend – could hand Matthijs de Ligt his full debut tonight, following the awful news that Giorgio Chiellini has ruptured his ACL ligament. The Italian defender will require surgery and should be out for around six months, which is a huge blow for the champions. That said, De Ligt and Bonucci at the back ain’t too bad.

Two seasons ago, Napoli won this fixture and looked as though they would go on to claim their first Serie A title since the days of Diego. That wasn’t to be in the end, and Juventus’s dominance has continued. Napoli are desperate to knock them off their perch. This is a prime opportunity, with their opponents reeling from injury and illness.

Kick off: 7.45pm BST, 8.45pm in Turin