WASTEFUL LAZIO FAVOURS THE OLD LADY
Prior to kick off Juventus knew that a win tonight against Lazio would see the Bianconeri increase their lead over nearest title rivals Napoli by a whopping 11 points, thanks to Napoli being held to a goalless draw against Milan the previous night. 3rd placed Inter also dropped points, in fact they dropped all 3 points to Juventus neighbors Torino in a 1-0 defeat. In short, winning tonight against Lazio was a massive opportunity in Juventus quest for an 8th consecutive scudetto win, and it shouldn't be passed up.
Lazio began the game brightly, going forward & harassing Juventus players into losing possession of the ball with their aggressive pressing game plan, at times this was so effective that Juventus were stuck in their own half for most of the opening minutes of the game, the first of many scares that Juventus would endure throughout the night arrived after 9 minutes of play, Angel Correa racing down the pitch from wide and dribbling past Bonucci inside the Juventus penalty box, as if the defender wasn’t even there. Once Correa beat his man and found himself in front of Szczesny the Argentine opted to square the ball instead of going for goal himself, fortunately Rugani was there to intercept and prevent a potential tap in for Ciro Immobile. Unfortunately this was the beginning of the end for Leonardo Bonucci’s night, sustaining a knock to the ankle due to Correa turning him inside out, fortunately for Juventus his replacement would be Giorgio Chiellini. Lazio would continue to dominate most of the opening 45 minutes, Juventus would continue to somehow survive with a clean sheet, largely thanks to Szczesny who was called into action on several occasions to save Juventus from falling behind, the most spectacular coming on the 36th minute with a one handed reaction save to prevent Parolo from scoring on the edge of the Juve box. As the half time whistle approached it was Daniele Rugani’s turn to save Juventus, Ciro Immobile managing to flick the ball over the head of Szczesny only for Rugani to continue his run and clear the ball out for a corner in front of the open goal.
As the half time whistle blew Lazio went into the break knowing that they had been the better side, they simply hadn't made any of their goal scoring chances count, and the statistics confirmed this. Lazio having 9 shots on goal and hitting the target on 5 occasions, Juventus on the other hand literally didn’t have a single shot on goal. Not. One. To emphasise how bad the first half really was, this was also the first time since Opta began collecting data in 2004-2005 that Juventus had failed to have a single attempt on goal in the first half of a Serie A game, it really was THAT bad.
HALF TIME: LAZIO 0-0 JUVENTUS
Surprisingly Juventus began the second half much better than they did the first, Douglas Costa creating the first chance of the game for the Bianconeri with a darting run down the wing and hitting a whipped cross in front of the Lazio goal, narrowly missing Ronaldo who wasn’t quick enough to reach the ball, but this was positive stuff, much more positive than the opening half. However soon after Lazio would once again threaten to open the scoring, Luis Alberto narrowly hitting his shot wide of the Juve goal. With close the an hour of football played the inevitable finally happened and Lazio finally found the back of the net, sort of, actually it was Emre Can of Juventus who opened of the scoring… Except he put the ball into his own goal, heading the ball down wards into the ground from close range & into the net from a Lazio corner. Agonizingly for Lazio they could have found themselves 2-0 ahead, Ciro Immobile finding himself in a great position to score one on one against Szczesny, instead he failed to take advantage of the opportunity and hit the ball well wide of the target. On the 70 minute mark Allegri made what would prove to be a crucial substitution, bring on Joao Cancelo to replace Douglas Costa, 4 minutes later the Portuguese star in the making took advantage of the opportunity, making a run into the Lazio penalty area and getting on the end of a rebounded shot from Dybala’s effort on goal. Strakosha prevented Dybala from getting his name on the score sheet, but he could do very little to stop Cancelo from scoring, 1-1 GAME ON. With the game approaching the closing stages Juventus would continue to press forward in their search for a winner, then with 4 minutes of normal time remaining Juventus would be given the chance to lead the game for the first time via the penalty spot. Lulic played with fire the second he reached out and held Cancelo inside the penalty area, Cancelo went down, and the penalty was given. Ronaldo (who surprisingly failed to score from the penalty spot the previous week against Chievo) stepped up and confidently put Juventus ahead for an undeserved lead, 2-1. Juventus could have even doubled their lead late on, once again Cancelo was at the centre of all the action, making a brilliant run towards the Lazio goal but choosing to try and pass the ball to Bernardeschi rather than shoot once in front of goal.
FULL TIME: LAZIO 1-2 JUVENTUS
THE GOOD:
- Szczesny demonstrated that he is more than capable of being Juventus number one choice in goal, make no mistake the pole literally saved Juventus from defeat with his goal keeping ability. Lazio had more than enough chances to punish Juventus and Szczesny prevented that from happening
- Cancelo came on as a substitute and not only played in the unfamiliar role as a winger, he excelled in the role. Threatening Lazio with his pace and constantly getting himself inside the oppositions penalty box. It was yet another game that saw Cancelo display just why he is so important to this Juventus side
- Ronaldo did what Ronaldo is known for, stepped up to the big occasion and delivered when called upon. This may not have been a big European night on the grandest stage of club football, but none the less it is what Ronaldo was brought to the club to do, score when it matters most and deliver the win.
- Juventus end the night with 11 points separating themselves and Napoli, with 4 months of league fixtures remaining this is a massive lead, and its a lead you really cant see Juventus dropping from now until the end of May. Make no mistake, some points will likely be dropped once we enter the knock out rounds of the UEFA Champions League and rotation is factored in, but 11 points being dropped? Unlikely.
THE BAD:
- Lazio out played Juventus for large parts of the game, almost pressing the Bianconeri into submission during the first 45 minutes. Fortunately due to a combination of Szczesny being on top form in goal and Lazio failing to take advantage of the chances they created, Juventus survived and left Rome with all 3 points. However, Juventus cannot expect to be this lucky against tougher opposition, especially at this stage of the season. A meeting with Atletico Madrid is only 4 weeks away and if Juventus are to eliminate the Spanish outfit and progress to the quarter final stage they will need to perform better than tonight, much better.
- Bonucci injury, although he may not be the most popular name on the team sheet he is still a Juventus player and an important one at that, especially with Benatia’s impending departure from the club. Juventus cannot afford to lose key players at this stage of the season, especially in defence. Luckily Chiellini was available to come on from the bench, had he not been available Juventus would have been in big trouble in central defence. Hopefully it is nothing more than a knock and Bonucci will be back in action soon.
