Dusan Vlahovic Prints 'Brace', Juventus Beat Sassuolo
JAKARTA - Juventus settled their grudge by defeating Sassuolo 3-0 in the Italian Serie A match at the Allianz Stadium, Wednesday, January 17 in the morning WIB. Striker Dusan Vlahovic showed maximum performance by scoring a brace.
Juve maintains consistency in order to maintain competition with Inter Milan who lead the standings. The victory over Sassuolo not only avenge the 4-2 defeat in September 2023, but also closed points with the rivals of the black and white strip team.
The victory made Juve pocket 49 points. Now, the Bianconeri are only two points adrift of Inter. The competition remained tight when the competition in Italy entered its 20th week.
In addition, Juve managed to get away from the pursuit of AC Milan who was ranked third. Currently, Milan has 42 points.
They also showed consistency in domestic competitions and had time to close points with Juve. With a fairly long competition, Milan still has the opportunity to chase Juve.
Meanwhile, Sassuolo remained in 14th place with 19. The same as Frosinone, but Sassuolo was still ahead of the goal difference. Especially after Frosinone suffered a 5-0 Atalanta massacre.
Appearing at home, Juve is still too strong for Sassuolo. Despite losing two pillars, Weston McKennie and Federico Gatti, were banned from playing, but Juve were able to overcome it and the team remained solid.
Juve's victory opened Vlahovic who broke the deadlock in the 15th minute. This slick goal for the Serbian national team striker started with Manuel Locatelli's action who managed to cut the ball. He then handed it to Fabio Miretti.
The ball was then handed over to Vlahovic. From outside the penalty box, he fired a shot that headed into the top corner of the goal without being saved by goalkeeper Andrea Consigli. The beautiful goal put Juve 1-0 up.
After that goal, Juve continued to play attacking. However, Sassuolo actually gave a fairly troublesome fight to the La Vecchia bagia defense. Moreover, Juve did not fully excel in possession of the ball.
However, Juve were finally able to increase their lead in the 37th minute. Vlahovic scored his second goal with a free kick that immediately crossed the goal of Sssuolo. The score became 2-0 for Juve and lasted until the end of the first half.
In the second half, Juve did not lower the tempo of the game. Meanwhile, Sassuolo also played openly.
Their attacks several times threatened Wojciech Szczesny's goal. Noted, midfielder Domenico Berardi got two chances that failed to be converted into goals.
Especially when he welcomed the ball from a corner. But Berardi's efforts were brilliantly thwarted by Szczesny.
Juve had the chance to add a goal when Timothy Weah who came in to replace Miretti got a pass from Federico Chiesa in the 75th minute. But Weah's chances failed to produce a goal.
On the other hand, Chiesa, who then solidified Juve's advantage. He's goal which met a pass from Locatelli successfully broke into Sassuolo's goal. The score changed 3-0 for Juve and lasted until the end of the match.