22 January 2018
A Douglas Costa first-half goal saw La Vecchia Signora beat Genoa on their return to action in Serie A after the winter break. Despite only the 1-0 scoreline the Bianconeri were in control throughout the whole match, with the visitors failing to register a single shot on target on what was a controlled Juve performance at the Allianz Stadium.Juve started their first game after the winter break clearly fired up as they went on the front foot from the off in search of an early goal. It took until just the eighth minute to test Mattia Perin in the Genoa goal when Miralem Pjanic’s free-kick was palmed away by Perin, despite a great hit from the Bosnian.
The Old Lady wouldn’t have to wait long until their first, however, and it duly arrived in the 16th minute. Costa, who was already showing to be a livewire, burst forward with purpose and despite a stumble on the edge of the Genoa box, slipped a fine ball to Mario Mandzukic on the left-hand side. The Brazilian was up and on his feet straight away to make the all-important run into space, slotting a well-timed pass from the Croatian into the back of the Genoa goal.Into the second half and Genoa begun on the attack in search of an equaliser, but Juve were able to defend their lines diligently. They next went close when some good work from Douglas Costa found Stephan Lichtsteiner in the opposing box, and his neat ball across goal was hacked away from the Genoa goalmouth. The ball then fell again to Sami Khedira but the German’s effort was well held by Perin.
The final 10 minutes saw Genoa attempt to apply more pressure in getting more numbers forward, but they were unable to test the Bianconeri’s resolve as Wojciech Szczesny was left untroubled in the Juve goal. In the dying embers, Perin even ventured forward for a corner but neither he nor the rest of his Rossoblu teammates were able to conjure up a chance.Juve saw out the match to win 1-0 and up next for the Bianconeri is a trip to Chievo Verona on Saturday 27 January (20:45), as Allegri’s men attempt to take pole position from Napoli at the top of the Serie A leaderboard.
