Federico Gatti’s first-half goal settled a dramatic contest at the Allianz Stadium as Juventus squeaked past Fiorentina 1-0 on Sunday. Buoyed by a 2-0 win against Lazio in midweek Coppa Italia action, Massimiliano Allegri’s side ended a disappointing four-game winless run in Serie A.
It wasn’t a convincing performance from Juventus by any stretch of the imagination. They only attempted two shots on target, though it’s worth noting Dusan Vlahovic had his first-half goal disallowed for offside. This game resembled November’s reverse fixture in Tuscany as Allegri’s team fought valiantly to protect a slender lead until the final whistle.
Despite restricting Fiorentina to a mere two shots on target, it took a bit of Wojciech Szczesny’s magic between the sticks and M’Bala Nzola’s help to return to the win column. Juventus had just 25% possession, but they were inert when they could’ve hurt their opposition on the counter.
Like in the match against Lazio, one portion of the stadium showed discontent at Allegri’s approach. Risk-avert as ever, the Juventus boss maintains he saw progress from his side despite getting away with another unconvincing triumph.
“We work every day to improve. There are also moments psychologically, as we had not won in Serie A for a while,” the Juventus manager told DAZN, as quoted by Gianluca Di Marzio.
“It’s true that we risked conceding the equalizer late on after a technical error, but I would not reproach the lads for anything. We kept a second consecutive clean sheet and victory, so that is important progress.“
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