05 February 2018
WE WANT SEVEN!
It’s not often that football fans find themselves in the fortunate position of being able to shout that from the stands!
The last time that Juve scored seven was back in November 2014 at home to Parma. That match incidentally featured a superb solo strike by birthday boy and former Bianconero Carlos Tevez, as El Apache, Alvaro Morata and Fernando Llorente all scored braces while Stephan Lichtsteiner also got on the scoresheet.
Meanwhile, the last time that Juve netted four goals in a first half was almost 10 years ago in a Serie A home victory over Lazio in April 2008.
6 ½ YEARS, 601 POINTS
With yesterday’s win, Juventus have now collected a phenomenal 601 points from the start of the 2011/12 season, the first of their six consecutive Scudetto-winning campaigns.
During that period, the Bianconeri have averaged 2.39 points per match, winning 186, drawing 43 and losing just 22 times over the course of 251 fixtures.
The Bianconeri also boast the best defensive numbers, having conceded just 153 times. Only Napoli (510) have scored more than Juve (502) over the last six and half seasons.
Here are Serie A's top 10 performing teams since September 2011:
PIPITA ON POINT
Gonzalo Higuain was of course Sunday’s hat-trick hero, completing the feat in just 20 second-half minutes.
This was Pipita’s very first three-goal haul in a Bianconeri shirt, having hit a total of 10 braces for the club up until this point. The achievement also allowed the Argentine to go one better on last season’s showing against Sassuolo – his first pair for Juventus back in September 2016 – while also stretching his rich scoring form to five goals in his last three matches.
SAMI ON SONG
While Higuain naturally took the headlines, it was Sami Khedira who was at the heart of a rip-roaring first half that effectively ended the contest before the break.
Not for the first time this year, Sami had his shooting boots on. Quickly off the back of an eye-catching strike away to Chievo on 27 January, the Germany international scored two classy goals (plus an assist for Miralem Pjanic’s worldie) to take his tally for the campaign to six, making this his highest-scoring season for Juventus.
SPECIAL MENTIONS ALSO TO…
On a day like yesterday, it’s easy to lose track of all the key contributions to the final scoreline:
Alex Sandro (goal and assist), Miralem Pjanic (goal and assist), Federico Bernardeschi (two assists) and Claudio Marchisio (assist).
As if that wasn’t enough, it was another super day for the defence, as Gianluigi Buffon and co. managed to keep a clean sheet – Juve’s sixth in a row in all competititions.
The Bianconeri have now conceded just one goal in their last 15 matches. Staggering form heading into the business end of the season.
