24 December 2017
Benatia on the spot again
Ever since qualifying Morocco for the World Cup, Medhi Benatia has returned to the Bianconeri in the form of his life and the run continued on Saturday night. He scored his second goal of the season and it ended up being a match-winner in the 1-0 win over Roma.
Benatia’s last seven Juventus starts have been shutouts and he’s proving to be an absolute rock at the back for Massimiliano Allegri.
Shutout streak continues!
Make it eight in a row without a goal allowed as Juventus moved over the ten hour mark since allowing the opposition to score. There were some nervy moments, as seven of the 14 Roma shots came in the final ten minutes of the match forcing Wojciech Szczęsny into some heroics, but in the end the shutout was preserved.
There’s one match left in December for the Bianconeri to try and make it the whole calendar month without conceding as they’ll face Hellas Verona on the 30th.
Super Szczesny
It was a relatively tame night for Juve’s Polish goalkeeper early on, but he had his biggest moment in the Bianconeri kit as the clock hit stoppage time on Saturday night. A mix-up at the back saw Patrik Shick one-on-one with Szczesny on goal, but he was up to the task sliding to kick the shot clear just moments before the final whistle blew.
It brought a roar out of Allianz Stadium even similar to the one when Benatia scored, with the whole team enveloping Szczesny at the final whistle.
Saying goodbye to Allianz Stadium for the year
It was a fitting end to the calendar year taking home three points at Allianz Stadium. What a year it’s been at the stadium with another scudetto highlighting things as well as memorable wins over Barcelona, Roma, Torino and more.
It won’t take long to re-open the Allianz Stadium doors as we host Torino in the quarterfinals of Coppa Italia on 3 January.
Sticking with the 4-3-3
Massimiliano Allegri chose to stick with his 4-3-3 on Saturday night switching out his midfield trio from Wednesday night’s win over Genoa bringing back Miralem Pjanic, Blaise Matuidi and Sami Khedira. All three got into the attack well on the night with Pjanic hitting the crossbar and Matuidi denied by Alisson.
