16 February 2020
Juventus bounced back with a Serie A win by defeating Brescia 2-0 at Allianz Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Paulo Dybala scored a stunning free-kick to open the scoring, while Juan Cuadrado doubled the result with a goal of his own after the break.
NOT MUCH SEPARATING THE TEAMS
Juventus had the first chance at goal when Ramsey brilliantly worked himself into the box, he crossed it in for Higuain, who had the ball nipped from his feet. Alfonso denied the hosts from grabbing an early goal when another dangerous ball was delivered into the box towards Higuain, but the goalkeeper punched it out of play. Incidentally, that would be his final involvement of the game as he was replaced by Andrenacci due to a head injury with just 10 minutes on the clock. Dybala then delivered in a long cross to Cuadrado at the far post, he connected onto the end it, but he couldn’t direct it across the line as his ball kissed the side-netting. A perfect chance then fell to Dybala in the 31st minute: he was in the front and centre of the box and all he needed to do was shoot straight at goal, but somehow, he skewed his effort. Szczesny was then called into action for the first time when he made a save off Bjarnason’s effort.
DYBALA STUNNER
Brescia were reduced to 10 men in the 37th minute when Aye was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on Ramsey on the edge of the box, which resulted in a free-kick to the hosts and the eventual lead. Paulo Dybala took charge of the set-piece and he curled in an unstoppable ball that left the goalkeeper rooted to the spot. The Brescia shot-stopper denied Dybala shortly after when he fired in a ferocious volley that was pushed away from goal. The half was closed off with the Bianconeri coming agonizingly close to doubling the lead when Rugani’s effort hit the woodwork.
CUADRADO WRAPS IT UP
The second half started with Higuain knocking on Brescia’s door: he burst in on the right and fired an angled drive that was cleared off the line by Sabelli. Miralem Pjanic came on for Ramsey in the 66th minute, while Dybala’s shot was blocked by Bjarnason. Pjanic was then forced into being substituted off the field just six minutes later due to injury, and he was replaced by Matuidi. The Frenchman proved immediately impactful as he grabbed an assist on Cuadrado’s goal: the two were involved in a give-and-go, before the Colombian toe-poked the ball across the line to make it 2-0. The two-goal advantage allowed Maurizio Sarri to hand Chiellini his first minutes of game time after recovering from his long-term knee injury. Gonzalo Higuain thought he had added the third and final goal of the game when he found the back of the net from a free-kick, but it didn’t stand as he was in an offside position. Dybala nearly snatched a goal inside stoppage time when his daisy-cutter smacked the woodwork just seconds before the full-time whistle blew.
Juventus: Szczesny; Danilo, Rugani, Bonucci (Chiellini 78’), Alex Sandro; Ramsey (Pjanic 66’, Matuidi 73’), Bentancur, Rabiot; Cuadrado, Higuain, Dybala
Substitutes: Buffon, Pinsoglio, De Sciglio, Chiellini, de Ligt, Wesley, Pjanic, Matuidi, Olivieri
Brescia: Alfonso; Sabelli, Mateju, Chancellor, Martella; Bisoli, Dessena, Bjarnason; Zmrhal; Aye, Balotelli
