Massimiliano Allegri has hailed Dusan Vlahovic’s impact on Juventus’ game following Saturday’s hard-earned 3-2 win away to Empoli. The ex-Fiorentina striker ran the show at the Stadio Carlo Castellani, netting either side of half-time to inspire Juve’s triumph.
Driven by revenge after a shock 1-0 defeat in the reverse fixture back in September, Juventus edged Empoli by a single-goal margin, courtesy of Vlahovic’s match-winning performance. Moise Kean, though, opened the scoring after the half-hour mark before Szymon Zurkowski restored parity five minutes before the break.
However, Vlahovic made sure to fire Juventus into a half-time lead as he drilled in from just inside the box after receiving a clever pass from Juan Cuadrado in the first-half stoppage-time. The Serbia international notched up his first Serie A brace for Juve midway through the second half.
Alvaro Morata led the counter-attack, but Vlahovic’s world-class first touch to set himself one-on-one with Guglielmo Vicario highlighted the game. The in-form striker had no trouble chipping the ball over the Empoli goalkeeper to double Juventus’ advantage before Andrea La Mantia pulled one back for the hosts.
Vlahovic has now leapfrogged Lazio talisman Ciro Immobile at the top of the Serie A scoring charts, taking his tally for the season to 20. His breathtaking showing has not gone unnoticed by Allegri as the Juventus manager waxed lyrical about his new main man in the aftermath.
“Vlahovic is an important player, he has character as well as quality and has the kind of characteristics we didn’t have in the squad,” he said as relayed by TUTTOmercatoWEB.
“You could tell straight away this lad has character, wants to win and is eager to learn. He moved a lot more today, didn’t just stay central, and that was a big advantage for him and Juventus.”
Allegri refused to draw comparisons between Vlahovic and ex-No7 Cristiano Ronaldo, albeit he predicts great future for the Juventus rising star.
“I don’t think you can compare them, the previous seven won the Ballon d’Or four times, whereas Vlahovic is at the beginning of his career. A good game isn’t enough, you need immense mental strength and he is at the start of his journey,” he maintained.