Conte’s return to Juventus begins with boos and ends in a 0-0 draw

Antonio Conte’s return to Juventus in a packed stadium began with boos for the former Bianconeri hero.

The match ended 0-0 between Juventus and Conte’s Napoli, who created the best chances on Saturday in Turin.

A third consecutive goalless draw for Juventus in Serie A ended Napoli’s three-game winning streak.

Conte, who also played for Juventus for 13 years, led the Bianconeri to the first three of their nine consecutive Serie A titles before retiring under difficult circumstances in 2014.

He has returned to the Allianz Stadium as coach of Juve’s fierce rivals Inter Milan, but on all three occasions there were no fans present due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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

Former Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay started for the first time under Conte and almost broke the deadlock in the 29th minute but Juventus goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio did well to save his effort and smother Romelu Lukaku’s follow-up.

Di Gregorio went one better in first-half stoppage time with a fantastic fingertip save to keep out Matteo Politano’s free-kick.

Politano came close to scoring a wonder goal early in the second half. He drifted down the right and cut inside, but his shot went over the bar from the edge of the area.

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

American midfielder Gianluca Busio helped Venezia to its first win of the season, 2-0 over Genoa, who were rocked by a horrific injury to Ruslan Malinovskyi.

The Genoa midfielder suffered a gruesome-looking fracture to his lower leg early in the second half when his studs collided with the turf and his right ankle twisted.

The players threw their hands up in horror as Malinovskyi’s foot was pointing in the wrong direction.

Busio won a penalty in the 58th minute when Genoa defender Koni De Winter brought him down over the shoulder. Joel Pohjanpalo’s shot was powerful and accurate but was saved fantastically by Pierluigi Gollini.

However, Venezia took the lead five minutes later in rather fortunate circumstances. Busio put a cross into the box that no one could reach and the ball bounced off the turf and crashed in off the right post.

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

Pohjanpalo all but sealed victory five minutes from time when he headed John Yeboah’s cross in at the far post.

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