Yet again prior to kick off Juventus went into a game knowing that their nearest title rivals Napoli had dropped points, drawing 0-0 with Fiorentina the previous day, and once again Juventus had the opportunity to open up an 11 point gap between themselves and Napoli. The question was, after two bad results back to back could the Bianconeri do it? In other news Pauolo Dybala started on the substitutes bench for the second game running, after taking to the changing rooms before the final whistle was blown in the previous games 3-3 draw with Parma, was this a tactical decision on Allegri part? Or a form of punishment? Only Allegri will know the true answer to this question.
Juventus started the game slowly, unlike their opponents Sassuolo who wasted no time in hitting Juventus with a quick counter with a minute of the game played, beginning with a clearance from a Pjanic free kick, Sassuolo stormed up the pitch before Berardi passed the ball to Sensi who fired his shot wide of the post, but the threat had been made known early on for Juventus to deal with. Sassuolo wouldn't have long to watch for another opportunity to take the lead, Pjanic miss judging his back pass towards Rugani who was too slow to react and lost out to Djuric who found himself one on one with the Juventus goalkeeper. Szczesny had little option other than to dive to ground and prevent Djuric from having a shot on goal, after consulting VAR the referee decided there was no penalty to be given and rightly so, as Szczesny cleared the ball prior to Djuric going down, the clearance needed to be timed perfectly to prevent a penalty, and perfectly executed it was. With 14 minutes played Szczesny was once again called into action, this time with a great save to deny Locatelli with an effort from outside the box. Sassuolo thus far had looked the more likely of the two sides to open the scoring, Juventus on the hand very much looking like a side out of sorts and out of ideas. After a spell of possession Juventus finally had an effort on goal, Matuidi having a go inside Sassuolo’s penalty box, unfortunate to see his shot sail completely off the mark. The goal would eventually come in the form of an unlikely goal scorer, Pjanic with a sliding pass towards Ronaldo who raced into the Sassuolo penalty box only for his effort on goal to be saved by Consigli who palmed it into the path of. . . SAMI KHEDIRA, who slotted the ball into an empty net for 1-0. Juventus had back to back opportunities to double their lead going into half time, both taking place inside of stoppage time, first up Bernardeschi had long range effort that Consigli decided he couldn’t hold on to, seconds later Beranrdeschi was involved once more, crossing the ball from wide only for Khedira to head wide when he really should have hit the target.
HALF TIME: SASSUOLO 0-1 JUVENTUS
Juventus began the second half mucfh better than they did for the opening 45 minutes, Rugani going close for 2-0 from a De Sciglio cross but unable to connect with a header. A few minutes later Juventus thought they had a second goal, Bernardeschi finding Cristiano Ronaldo with a nice through ball outside of the penalty area, Ronaldo dribbled inside and had little trouble scoring as Consigli went to ground prematurely which allowed Ronaldo to riffle the ball into the net, unfortunately Ronaldo was in an offside position and the scoreline remained 1-0. It was all happening inside the opening 10 minutes of the restart, similar to Sassuolo's opening chance of the game it began with a Juventus set piece, as the ball was quickly cleared up-field into Juventus half of the pitch, Szceseny came running from goal into midfield, sliced his clearance and gifted Berardi to strike the ball into an empty net, the gift was not taken and Berardi narrowly hit wide. As the match approached the hour mark we had a moment of comedy genius, first Ronaldo was deemed to have handled the ball which was nothing noteworthy, that was until he decided to lash out in frustration and kick the ball into the direction of Sami Khedira’s face. Fortunately the ball did hit Khedira as if it had not, then Ronaldo would have likely been booked for kicking the ball into the stands. Ronaldo’s frustrations would later result in Juventus second goal of the evening, latching on to the end of Pjanic cross from a corner kick and heading the ball into the net, what was unexpected however was the goal celebration, Ronaldo looked to be celebrating his goal in trademark fashion, that was until he mimicked Paulo Dybala’s ‘Dybala mask’ goal celebration. Pauolo Dybala finally took to the pitch on the 83rd minute and quickly contributed towards Juventus 3rd and final goal, beginning with Dybala who found Ronaldo in a central area in front of goal, who opted to set up Emre Can for an opportunity to score and score he did, firing the ball into the bottom far corner beyond Consigli with his first touch of the game
THE GOOD :
- 11 point lead at the top of Serie A is restored, after a bump in the road that saw Juventus eliminated from the Coppa Italia at the hands of Atalanta and somehow share points with Parma, despite at one stage leading 3-1, Juventus return to winning ways
- SAMI KHEDIRA, whisper it, but ‘Juve twitters’ favourite player to hate actually had a good game. Scoring Juventus opening goal, ending the game as Juventus 2nd most active player for shots on goal (despite being substituted after 66min) and regularly getting himself into the oppositions penalty area.
- SUPPORT FOR PAULO DYBALA, Ronaldo chose to alter his trademark goal celebration by donning the ‘Dybala mask’ in an apparent gesture of support for his team mate. Was this aimed at the media speculation over Dybala’s apparent ‘tantrum’ for leaving the substitutes bench early during the 3-3 draw with Parma? Or perhaps a dig at Allegri for starting Dybala from the bench once again? Either way it was a clear sign of support for his team mate which is always a positive sign for good team chemistry.
- A CLEAN SHEET, After conceding 6 goals in 2 games Juventus badly needed a response and tonight they delivered. Scoring 3, conceding none and doing it without first team regulars Chiellini & Bonucci in defence. The past games have shown how integral Chiellini is to the Juventus defence & will be needed for the upcoming trip away to Atletico Madrid, a trip that is fast approaching.
THE BAD:
- Pitch invader, we all know the attention that Cristiano Ronaldo brings to Italian football but it is not a good image when a fan can evade security, run onto the pitch and reach Ronaldo, get it together eh? Thankfully there was no incident but still, not a good image.
- A SLOW START: Juventus were far too slow in beginning the game and against better opposition they would have probably been punished. Sassuolo had two glorious chances to open the scoring, and against better opposition you would expect at least one of those chances to be converted into a goal.
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