Juventus welcomed Arkadiusz Milik but lost Wojciech Szczesny: those were the main takeaways from the Bianconeri’s game against Spezia in Serie A round 4, which Massimiliano Allegri’s band easily won by a 2-0 score.
The Polish striker scored his first goal as a Bianconero in the dying minutes of the game right after setting foot on the pitch. That was after Dusan Vlahovic had put the home side in the driving seat just nine minutes after kick-off, scoring his second free-kick in a row after last Saturday’s stunner against Roma.
Szczesny had to be stretched out of the pitch on 43 minutes as he picked up an injury but that was the only reason for concern for Allegri and his boys who got the job done easily at the Allianz Stadium. It all happened under Leandro Paredes’ eyes as the most recent addition to Allegri’s roster was watching the game from the stands.
The Juventus coach awarded Federico Gatti his first cap as a starter at center back, giving some rest time to Leonardo Bonucci. Youngster Fabio Miretti was confirmed in the middle of the part while Moise Kean partnered upfront with Vlahovic. Angel Di Maria recovered from his injury but was only fit for the bench and made his entrance on 55 minutes.
Vlahovic opened the scoring for Juve on nine minutes, with a fabulous free-kick that ended in the top right corner of poor Bartlomiej Dragowski’s net. Emmanuel Gyasi managed to draw level for Spezia a few minutes later, but his beautiful lob shot was disallowed on grounds of offside.
The Bianconeri seemed happy with just slowing down the match tempo and defending their slim lead. Spezia, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have what it takes to cause any trouble. Szczesny’s substitute Mattia Perin didn’t have to break a sweat to keep his sheet clean.
Two minutes into added time, Miretti served Milik in the box and the newcomer celebrated his maiden day in white-and-black with a clinical left-foot shot that set the score at 2-0. Juve could thus achieve the maximum outcome with the minimum effort and set their mind on their next, more challenging tests – Fiorentina in Serie A and Paris Saint-Germain in Champions League.
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