May 07, (THEWILL) – Fabian Ruiz’s second-half goal gave Napoli enough to open a four-point advantage over Juventus in the race for third place in Serie A after they beat Torino 1-0 on Saturday.
After a disappointing first half in which Napoli failed to convert their chances, central midfielder Ruiz broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute with a low effort.
As Luciano Spalletti’s team rebounded from Lorenzo Insigne missing a penalty on the hour mark, Ruiz took advantage of Tommaso Pobega’s error and raced past two defenders before finding the net.
Torino’s finest chance to score came in the first half, when striker Andrea Belotti attempted a back-flicked header, but Napoli goalkeeper David Ospina made a fantastic save at full stretch.
The hosts could not muster anything better than that for the rest of the fixture and could have conceded more goals but for the profligacy of the Napoli side, when chanced to score.
Napoli is now third with 73 points, against the 69 points of fourth-placed Juventus, whose top three hopes were dashed after a 2-1 shock defeat at relegation-threatened Genoa on Friday, as THEWILL reported. Torino is in ninth place with 47 points.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
