It would be a night mixed with frustration and abysmal decision
making on Chievo’s part. The Bianconeri again went into a game missing several
names due to injury, Juan Cuadrado, Paulo Dybala, Claudio Marchisio and
Benedikt Howedes. There was however good news as Ginaluigi Buffon returned, all
be it as a substitute on the bench.
From the get go Juventus set on wards in search of goal only
to be stopped in their tracks by a solid yellow wall, also known as the Chievo
defence. So resilient was Chievo’s defending that Juventus did not hit the
target until the 20th minute, as Pjanic had his long range effort
saved by Sorrentino in what was in all honesty a routine save for the Chievo
goalkeeper. Pjanic would again have the opportunity to open the scoring 8
minutes later, only to hit a Chievo wall from a free kick. In what was proving
to be an increasingly frustrating night for Juventus things would take a turn
for the worst for the home side, as the game approached half time Chievo were
reduced to 10 men as Bastien received two quick back to back yellow cards, both
for fouling Asamoah. Despite the numerical advantage Juventus were still unable
to break through the Chievo back line, as both sides went into half time 0-0
HALF TIME 0-0
Despite Juventus struggling to really threaten Chievo’s defence
allegri would wait until the 54th minute to make a change, bringing
on Bernnardeschi in place of Sturaro. Not long after this, the game produced a completely
bizarre moment, as Chievo made a quick break towards the Juventus goal, Cacciatore
would go to ground inside the penalty area and stay there in an attempt to win
his side a penalty, instead the referee allowed play to continue and Juventus
began a counter attack of their own, once the ball was out of play Cacciatore
protested to the referee as he was told to leave the pitch following medical assistance
from the physios, once Cacciatore reluctantly left the field of play he then proceeded
to put his hands behind his back in a “handcuffed hands” gesture, to imply that
the referee was against Chievo, once the referee saw this, Cacciatore was
awarded with a straight red card. With Chievo now down to 9 men the numerical disadvantage
eventually came into play, as Juventus finally took the lead, Sami Khedira
firing in a shot from 12 yards to make it 1-0 with little over 30 more minutes
to play. Despite being having two players sent off, Chievo almost scored a goal
of their own, as Birsa played the ball long towards Radovanovic, only to be
prevented from an on rushing Szczesny, who intercepted and cleared the ball.
Juventus would finally seal the win in the closing stages, as Gonzalo Higuaín
got himself on the scoresheet, holding his run to avoid being in an offside
position before heading the ball into the net from a Douglas Costa cross.
THOUGHTS: Like the previous fixture, a 1-0 win against genoa,
this was a night that saw Juventus under perform yet ultimately end the 90
minutes with another 3 points to their collection. Chievo set up to defend,
understandably so for a side sitting in 14th place in the league and
without a win since the 25th of November. It was Juventus job to
break that defence, and for all their possession the Bianconeri at times looked
to have few ideas when it came to scoring that important goal. Even when Chievo
went down to 10 men, the flying donkeys were still holding up well in defence. Now
onto the Cacciatore incident, in a game
where the referee shows his approach is going to be zero tolerance (Higuaín was
booked in the first half for gesturing to the referee to show a Chievo player a
yellow card, and rightfully so) had a complete moment of madness, stupidity. First
arguing with the referee over his decision to have Cacciatore leave the pitch
to receive treatment for his “injury” and then going one step further once on
the side-lines making the handcuff gesture, that the referee was against Chievo
and favouring Juventus. In an era where players can be booked or sent off for
abusive language spoken to the referee, or attempting to get an opposition
booked by waving an imaginary card (as was the case with Higuaín) this was
complete madness on Cacciatore part, and there can be no justifiable argument
against the sending off when taking all this into account. Back to Juventus, struggling
to score against Chievo is one thing, struggling to score against 10 men Chievo
is another story completely. Not for the first time Juventus have looked inept
in front of goal and at creating goal scoring chances, yes its another 3 points earned in the Scudetto race but Juventus will have to improve if they are continue challenging on all fronts , especially with big games coming up against sides who will prove a far bigger test than Genoa and Chievo
FULLTIME : CHIEVO 0-2 JUVENTUS
GOAL SCORERS : KHEDIRA (67Min), HIGUAIN (88Min)
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