02 March 2021
Alvaro Morata, Federico Chiesa and Cristiano Ronaldo scored second half goals, while Szczesny saved a penalty as Juventus bounced back with a 3-0 victory over Spezia at the Allianz Stadium on Tuesday evening.
SPEZIA FIGHT TOUGH
Matthijs de Ligt was announced in the initial starting XI but after picking up niggle, he was replaced by Frabotta. Spezia started off well and they were the first to threaten at goal when a break on the counter saw Marchizza drill just wide of goal from eight yards out. Federico Chiesa had a goal ruled out for offside in the ninth minute, but it was Spezia who were causing trouble for Juve by allowing little space to create chances. An interesting moment happened on the half hour mark when Kulusevski found himself in an interesting position in the box, he passed to Ronaldo, but he was surrounded. Spezia managed to break away, as Marchizza’s shot was turned narrowly over the target by Demiral’s header. Provedel made an easy save off Chiesa’s snapshot, before Ronaldo’s powerful angled effort, which had beaten the keeper, bounced off the inside of the far post!
SUPER SUBS BERNA & MORATA
The second half started off with Juventus dominating the proceedings, and they had a few half chances fall their way. As a signal of all out offence, Morata and Bernardeschi were brought on in place of Frabotta and McKennie and both made an immediate impact. Seconds after coming on, Bernardeschi burst down the left, he pulled back by the byline for Morata, who ran onto the ball and tapped it in from close range at the near post.
CHIESA DOUBLES THE LEAD
The Bianconeri were starting to apply the pressure and Kulusevski saw his cross closed down on back-to-back occasions, while Ronaldo had the ball pinched from his feet. The pressure paid off as the scoreline was doubled to 2-0: Bernardeschi worked the ball brilliantly to Chiesa in the box, his first shot was denied by Provedel but he flung himself to acrobatically fire home on the rebound!
RONALDO WRAPS IT UP, TEK SAVES A PENALTY
Provedel denied Ronaldo of a goal when he punched away his free-kick in the 77th minute, but there was nothing the shot-stopper could do about his effort in the 89th minute. Bentancur won the ball back, and broke free on the right flank where he then rolled it across for Ronaldo, who drilled it into the back of the net. That wasn’t to be the final moment of action in the game, as Spezia were handed a penalty in the final minute of stoppage time after Demiral brought down Gyasi. Galabinov stood up to take the spot kick but Szczesny denied him in what proved to be the final kick of the game.
Juventus XI: Szczesny; Danilo, Demiral, Frabotta (Bernardeschi 61’), Alex Sandro; Chiesa (Ramsey 72’), Bentancur, Rabiot, McKennie (Morata 61’); Kulusevski (Di Pardo 88’), Ronaldo
Subs: Buffon, Pinsoglio, Di Pardo, Dragusin, de Ligt, Ramsey, Bernardeschi, Fagioli, Ake, Peeters, Morata
Spezia: Provedel; Vignali, Erlic, Terzi, Marchizza; Estevez, Sena, Maggiore; Farias, Nzola, Gyasi
Subs: Zoet, Acampora, Ricci, Galabinov, Agoume, S Bastoni, Salva Ferrer, Chabot, Ismajli, Agudelo, Piccoli
