The old lady strike lucky (eventually) on what proved to be
a challenging away night against a hard working Cagliari side.
After starting the new year off with a derby win against
Torino in the Coppa Italia earlier in the week, Juventus travelled to Sardinia
to face Cagliari who ended 2017 with a surprise 2-1 victory away to Atalanta.
Juventus once more would have to play without Gianluigi Buffon, who remained on
the injured list, as a more than capable Szczesny continued his good form in
goal.
Juventus would start the game in confident fashion, Paulo Dybala striking
the frame of the goal 8 minutes in from a free kick, with Higuain striking wide
of the post from outside the 16 yard box 2 minutes later. Cagliari’s goal would
again come under pressure as Juventus once more were denied by the frame of the
goal, Bernardeschi curling the ball from a tight angle, Khedira getting a touch
on the rebound only for his effort to be cleared of the line. Juventus would
remain on the wrong side of lady luck, as Benatia did well to get his foot on
the end of a Pjanic free kick to hit in what he thought was the first goal of
the night, only to be denied by the assistant referees flag for offside,
replays showed that Benatia was indeed in an offside position as Pjanic struck
the ball into the box. After a bright start Juventus would have spells of
sloppy play, that would almost prove costly as Cagliari came close to taking
the lead 25 minutes in, Pavoletti's bullet header from point blank range in
front of goal brilliantly saved by Szczesny keeping the score line goalless. As
the match approached half time Szczesny again came to Juventus rescue, Cagliari
hitting Juventus on a quick counter attack that almost resulted in a shock lead
for the hosts, a quick pass from Pavoletti to Farias inside Juventus penalty
box looked like it was resulting in a certain goal, only for Szczesny to get a
touch with his hand to push the ball onto the post.
HALF TIME: Cagliari 0-0 Juventus
Cagliari would begin the second half in the same fashion as
they ended the first, Pavoletti heading the ball wide of Szczesny just seconds
into the second half. On 50 minutes the night would not get much better for
Juventus, as Paulo Dybala pulled up mid run holding his hamstring and
signalling to the bench for the substitution to be made, Douglas Costa coming
on to the replace La Joya. Shortly after, another Juventus players night would
come to a premature end, Szczesny inadvertently colliding with team mate Sami
Khedira as the goalkeeper rushed out to clear the incoming cross, a dazed
Khedira making way for Mario Mandzukic, it would be Juventus second
substitution in under 10 minutes. With 73 minutes played Juventus would finally
see their luck change, as Costa teased the Cagliari defence with a stepover on
the edge of the 16 yard box before whipping in a low cross in front of goal to
be met by Bernardeschi who timed his run to perfection and tapped the ball into
the net for the opening goal. There would be some controversy as Cagliari felt
play should have been stopped for a supposed foul on Pavoletti in midfield, the
referee however thought otherwise, and the goal stood. Cagliari would again
feel hard done by moments later, appealing to referee Calvarese for what they
felt was a penalty after Padoins cross into the Juventus penalty box made
contact with a mid-air Bernardeschi’s arm, however after consulting VAR the
referee decided it was not a case of hand ball and no penalty was given. With
ten minutes remaining Allegri made his final change of the night, taking off
Bernardeschi in place of Lichsteiner to defend the slender 1-0 lead. Juventus
would go on to see the night out and keep their 1-0 lead in tact in what was a
far from convincing display.
THOUGHTS: Szczesny continues to perform fantastic saves when
called upon in goal, his save in the closing moments against Roma proved
crucial and the Polish international was at it again tonight with two superb
stops with the score line 0-0, as tough as it will be for Juventus fans if, and
when Buffon calls it a day and retires from the game, but Szczesny is proving
more than worthy of taking over the number one spot in super Gigi absence. Bernardeschi
was among the starting 11 and took advantage of the opportunity, getting
himself in good attacking positions and looking to assist a team mate or score
the opening goal himself through out the match (which of course he eventually
did). On a negative note, Dybala could possibly be injured for a few weeks,
holding his hamstring and signalling to be substituted is never a good sign,
one can only hope it is not a serious injury. On the bright side no more
January transfer rumours of a move away for the little Argentine! Khedira also
left the pitch injured with a head injury which shouldn't see him out for too
long. For most of the night it looked like luck was not on Juventus side,
hitting the post twice and having a goal disallowed for offside (rightfully).
Although it was not convincing and at times ugly, Juventus record another
3 points in the Scudetto race.
FULL TIME: Cagliari 0-1 Juventus
GOAL SCORER: Bernardeschi (75 min)
No comments:
Post a Comment