Juventus, Champions gampata: knocked out Bologna, distanced Como and Roma
Juventus continues its Champions race and even puts second place in Serie A in its sights. The Bianconeri beat Bologna at home with a 2-0 win that doesn’t quite do justice to the dominance of Luciano Spalletti’s team on the pitch, on their third consecutive success and now -3 behind the Milan-Naples pair. All this while Como and Roma, the two fifth in the standings, find themselves within 5 points of the Old Lady after a round in which they both slowed down their run.
The match immediately went downhill for Juventus, ahead as early as 2′ thanks to Jonathan David’s great diving header off Kalulu’s cross from the right. Bologna’s reaction was limited to an attempt from distance by Pobega, then came Ravaglia’s miracle on Conceiçao and a torpedo from the limit by former Holm that crashed against the crossbar. In the final half Cambiaghi tried to shake the guests, but with an out-of-bounds conclusion. Then again Conceiçao and David built two great chances for a double that did not come.
Then Thuram signed it at the start of the second half, after Orsolini had once again made Bologna dream of an equalizer but with a conclusion on the bottom. The Frenchman, however, made no mistake at 57′, arriving first on McKennie’s cross and framing into the net after evading the markings of Freuler and Zortea. Only at this point did the red and blue create their best chance of the match, but Rowe only hit the post. Spalletti’s men can limit themselves to controlling operations at the end of the match, when the only headache comes when Moro goes to the conclusion but raises his aim too much.
In the context of the standings, Juventus can also smile when looking at the results of its direct competitors with the exception of only Milan. Massimiliano Allegri’s team in fact beat Verona 1-0 at the Bentegodi thanks to a goal by Rabiot at 41′, taking advantage of Leao’s assist, thus hooking Napoli in second place on 66 points. The Rossoneri also saw a possible double by Gabbia cancelled out in the final for offside by Gimenez, but the result still allowed them to move up to +8 on Como and Roma, effectively putting a serious mortgage on Champions League qualification.
As for Juventus’ immediate pursuers, Roma had already hit the brakes on Saturday by drawing 1-1 at home against Atalanta at the Stadio Olimpico. The Giallorossi had gone under through Krstovic’s goal in the 11th minute, served by De Roon, before finding the equalizer in the 44th minute through Hermoso’s turn on Rensch’s bank. A result that had already served the Bianconeri well before they even took the field, guaranteeing them the certainty of remaining at least in fourth place.
Still more in trouble was Como, which had fallen in Reggio Emilia 2-1 against Sassuolo on Friday, the third knockout in the last three games for Fabregas’ team. The Larians, who had shortened the gap with Nico Paz in the first-half recovery after goals by Volpato and Nzola, failed to complete the comeback in the second half, with Turati starring in a great save on the attempt by the same Nico Paz at 69′. A heavy misstep, which now projects Como to five points behind Juventus with fewer and fewer days left to recover.
For Bologna, on the other hand, the defeat at the Allianz Stadium comes at an already difficult time of the season, also marked by the heavy elimination in the Europa League against Aston Villa, which matured with an overall 7-1 between the first leg and the return. A season that, between the lack of European ambitions and the distancing from the top positions in the league, certainly did not meet the expectations of the eve for Vincenzo Italiano’s men.
