Napoli’s Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly
Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly bagged a brace as Napoli beat Chievo 3-1 to delay Juventus’ bid to win Serie A and condemn the Verona side to relegation.
Juventus — who lost 2-1 at SPAL on Saturday as they focused on next week’s Champions League game against Ajax — needed just a point to seal an eighth consecutive Serie A title.
They would have if Carlo Ancelotti’s second-placed Napoli failed to beat Chievo, and it would have been a new record of winning with six games to spare.
But towering Senegalese defender Koulibaly struck either side of Arkadiusz Milik’s strike for his first league goals this season to put Napoli 17 points behind Juventus.
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Massimiliano Allegri’s side will have to wait at least until next weekend at home against Fiorentina to seal the Scudetto with a record-equalling five matches remaining.
“We have to continue like this because we have no room for error on Thursday,” said Koulibaly ahead of next week’s Europa League quarter-final, return leg game against Arsenal where they trail 2-0.
Ancelotti’s side also got back to winning ways, having gone two league games without a victory.
“We needed to win because we’ve had difficulties in the championship for a few weeks, we wanted to put things right,” added Koulibaly.
“We are angry. We want to show another face of Napoli. If we play our game we can beat anyone.”
Koulibaly headed in the opening goal in the 15th minute with Milik adding a second on 64 minutes.
Koulibaly added a third with nine minutes left for the first double of his professional career, before captain Cesar pulled one back for Chievo just before the final whistle.
Chievo — who had been deducted three points early in the season for false accounting — return to Serie B after 11 straight years in the top flight.
