Juventus switched to full HD (Higuain-Dybala) mode in the second half of a complicated game to come from behind and wrap a 1-3 win in Bergamo against Atalanta in Serie A Round 13. The Bianconeri’s recipe is always the same this season: A less-than-impressive start, Maurizio Sarri’s mark failing to catch on the Zebras’ game, then the stroke of genius of a single individual to pull his side’s chestnuts out of the fire.
Today’s godsend bears the name of Gonzalo Higuain, the Argentinian scoring twice and serving his fellow countryman Paulo Dybala a superb pass for an easy finish after the Bianconeri had been put to the ropes by Gian Piero Gasperini’s superior Atalanta for more than 50 minutes.
Maurizio Sarri’s side thus showed that they can dispense of Cristiano Ronaldo, in case the Portuguese’s injury which ruled him out of Saturday’s game should turn into something more and buildup on his alleged mumbling at being substituted by the Comandante twice in a row before the recent international break.
Gian Piero Gasperini, on the other hand, was left wondering what could have happened, had he been able to deploy two key players of his – Ruslan Malinovskiy and Josip Ilicic – both kept at bay by injuries. With Luis Fernando Muriel not at 100% either, Atalanta’s coach was forced to put all his attacking hopes on Musa Barrow’s young shoulders, the 21-year-old making it to the starting lineup for the first time in 2019.
Juventus distinguished themselves for a pretty colorless first half in which they managed to scare Atalanta’s goalie Pierluigi Gollini only once. The keeper had to exit out of the box to slide-anticipate Gonzalo Higuain, scoring a stomp on his ankle from the Bianconeri number 9.
Atalanta put the visitors in danger with an early header by Berat Djimsiti, and then with a much more dangerous one by Milan Pasalic who was denied by a wonderful save on the part of Wojciech Szczesny – decisive again as he had been two weeks ago against Milan.
The Orobici however had their best chance a quarter into the match, when a flip pass in the box by captain Alejandro Gomez hit Sami Khedira’s wide open arm. Another handball for the Old Lady, and another penalty awarded against after the one suffered with Lecce. Too bad that Musa Barrow put too much power in his shot, which wrong-footed Szczesny but was pushed back by the crossbar.
The Polish goalie continued to keep his side afloat in the 24th minute as he deflected a cross from the left by El Papu Gomez, before Mattia De Sciglio and ramping up Matthijs De Ligt could cooperate to block Hans Hateboer’s attempted tap-in from close range.
The Bianconeri lost Federico Bernardeschi due to an injury one minute later. Aaron Ramsey replaced the Nazionale winger, but couldn’t change the match momentum as Atalanta kept the pressure on. Miralem Pjanic sloppily wasting a free kick just before half time was the perfect synthesis of Juventus’ failure to make their way to the opponent goal.
Pressure from the Nerazzurri side eventually concretized in Atalanta’s lead in the 55th minute, as Barrow redeemed himself from the missed penalty with a brilliant dribbling in the opponent box and a cross on the far post which Robin Gosens, unmarked, only had to push into Juventus’ net.
That was the 4th goal this season for the German midfielder, but much of the credit went to the young Gambian striker, who left the pitch immediately after among the applauses of the Gewiss Stadium, substituted by Luis Fernando Muriel.
Maurizio Sarri quickly took some countermeasures and sent in Douglas Costa for an apathetical Rodrigo Bentancur, but control of the operations remained firmly in the hands of the Bergamaschi: In the 62nd minute, a progression by Alejandro Gomez put Luis Muriel in condition to shot from point-blank range. The Colombian’s conclusion found a monumental Matthijs De Ligt on its way.
The Bianconeri didn’t seem capable of turning the tables, and it took a mostly random episode to shift the game’s inertia in their favor as Gonzalo Higuain managed to fire the ball towards Pierluigi Gollini’s goal at the end of a confused action in the 74th minute: Rafael Toloi’s unlucky deflection wrong-footed the Nerazzurri goalie and awarded the visitor a pretty benevolent equalizer.
The Old Lady smelled blood at that point and built on Atalanta’s frustration at a disallowed penalty on grounds of an handball by Emre Can to strike again in the 84th minute. After referee Gianluca Rocchi and his VAR assistants had taken their time to deem the Turkish’s handball fortuitous, Gonzalo Higuain sealed his brace finishing from a cross from the right side by Juan Cuadrado. More protests on the Nerazzurri’s part at an alleged handball by Cuadrado during the action buildup were put down by Rocchi.
The spell was broken. Paulo Dybala wrapped Juventus’ 1-3 during added time, finalizing for the best a long-range filtering pass by El Pipita Higuain with Atalanta fully unbalanced and frantically looking for an equalizer that never came.
A loud Gewiss Stadium saw their heroes falling at home for the second time in a row despite living the dream of toppling the incumbent Italian champions. For Juventus, it’s going to be another weekend sitting on their sofa and watching from the top of the table as other clubs continue to fight each other for the second place.
MATCH REPORT
November 23, 2019 – Serie A 2019-2020 Round 13
ATALANTA-JUVENTUS 1-3
SCORERS: 56′ Gosens (A), 74′ Higuain (J), 82′ Higuain (J), 92′ Dybala (J)
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ATALANTA (3-4-2-1): Gollini; Toloi, Palomino, Djimsiti; Hateboer, De Roon, Freuler (86′ Traorè), Gosens (72′ Castagne); Gomez, Pasalic; Barrow (58′ Muriel) (Rossi, Sportiello, Kjaer, Masiello, Arana, Piccoli, Da Riva, Ibanez, Colley) Coach: Gasperini |
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JUVENTUS (4-3-1-2): Szczesny; Cuadrado, Bonucci, De Ligt, De Sciglio; Khedira (70′ Emre Can), Pjanic, Bentancur (59′ Douglas Costa); Bernardeschi (26′ Ramsey); Higuain, Dybala (Pinsoglio, Buffon, Danilo, Matuidi, Rugani, Demiral) Coach: Sarri |
REFEREE: Mr. Rocchi from Florence
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Gollini, Toloi, Palomino, Freuler, Gosens (A), Higuain, Dybala, Cuadrado (J); Extra Time: 1st Half 3′, 2nd Half 6′