Juventus made short work of Bologna on Sunday night to come back to winning ways after one month that included two losses in a row for the Bianconeri.
Goals from Filip Kostic, Dusan Vlahovic, and Arkadiusz Milik made Massimiliano Allegri’s life a bit easier as Juve prepare to face Maccabi Haifa in Champions League on Wednesday and, moreover, Milan at the San Siro in a classic Serie A matchup next Saturday.
Coming from back to back losses against Benfica and Monza before the international break, Juventus faced a do or die situation at the Allianz Stadium on Sunday night as they desperately needed a win to avoid losing the Scudetto train. Thiago Motta’s Bologna are a work in progress and surely looked like a favorable test for the Old Lady to revamp their so far disappointing campaign.
And yet, the Rossoblu offered even less opposition than expected and offered the Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny an easy comeback to the pitch after an injury. Defender Lorenzo De Silvestri was the only one to test him with a header that was easily blocked by the Polish custodian.
That was all that Bologna could produce in a match that quickly became easy prey for the much hungrier Bianconeri. Among the Juventus lines, Filip Kostic put together an impressive performance and was rewarded with his first goal since he landed in the Serie A.
Kostic received the ball from Vlahovic on 24 minutes and beat Lukasz Skorupski with a clinical shot to open his Italian goal-scoring account. However, much of the credit for Juventus’ first must go to Milik, who triggered the Old Lady’s counterattack after recovering the ball from Nicola Sansone with a perfectly-timed slide tackle.
The Bianconeri doubled their lead on 59 minutes as Vlahovic found the back of the net for the first time in four games. The Serbian successfully headed the ball home from a Weston McKennie cross, breaking a drought that had started to elicit mumbles of frustration from the disappointed black-and-white fan base.
Three minutes later, Milik confirmed how important he’s becoming on the Juventus stage with a phenomenal strike that set the score at 3-0. That came right after Thiago Motta had tried a desperate change of pace with a triple substitution which obviously was of no use. It is clear that the Rossoblu will need to look elsewhere for the points they need to make a difference in the relegation battle.
As for Juventus, it is too early to determine whether their September crisis is over but, at least, Allegri and his boys could celebrate their first clean sheet since their late August 2-0 win against Spezia.
MATCH SCORECARD
October 2, 2022 – Serie A 2022-2023 Round 8
JUVENTUS – BOLOGNA 3-0
SCORERS: 24′ Kostic, 59′ Vlahovic, 62′ Milik
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JUVENTUS (4-4-2): Szczesny; Danilo, Bonucci, Bremer, Alex Sandro; McKennie (60′ Cuadrado), Locatelli (76′ Miretti), Rabiot (76′ De Sciglio), Kostic (60′ Paredes); Vlahovic, Milik (81′ Kean). All. Allegri (Pinsoglio, Perin, Gatti, Rugani, Fagioli, Soulé) Coach: Allegri |
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BOLOGNA (4-2-3-1): Skorupski; De Silvestri (61′ Cambiaso), Sosa, Bonifazi, Lykogiannis; Dominguez (61′ Medel), Schouten (77′ Aebischer); Orsolini, Soriano (77′ Ferguson), Sansone (61′ Vignato); Arnautovic (Bardi, Bagnolini, Posch, Soumaoro, Moro, Zirkzee, Lucumi’, Kasius) Coach: Thiago Motta |
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Sosa (B); Added Time: 1st Half 1′, 2nd Half 2′
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