Ronaldo Scores 16th Seasonal Goal as Juventus Beat League Rivals Roma

In Round 21 of Serie A, the Italian football fans all around the world gathered to watch the most anticipated match of the week as the third-placed Roma traveled to Turin to face last season’s Scudetto winners Juventus.

Although it was far from a convincing performance, Juventus managed to come away 2-0 winners thanks to a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo and an own goal from Roger Ibanez in what was a rather disappointing match-up between the two great sides.

At first glance, both managers opted for completely different tactical set-ups, with Juve lining-up in a 4-4-2 formation, while Paulo Fonseca went for a back three system in 3-5-2.

However, within the first few minutes of the match, Juventus’ 4-4-2 was also transformed to a three-man defence, with Danilo -who often tuck inside into the center of midfield to create numerical equality – Leonardo Bonucci, and Giorgio Chiellini forming a back line, whilst Federico Chiesa and Alex Sandro were moved to a wing-back position on either side.

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— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) February 6, 2021

The game started with little urgency from both sides but it was Roma who saw more of the ball as Juventus retrieved to a 4-4-2 mid-defensive block. The visitors were playing some clever possession-based football, combining through the left half-space and the left-wing space, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jordan Veretout, and Leonardo Spinazzola being at the centre of all the action.

However, all that possession turned out to be worthless, with Roma unable to penetrate and create dangerous passing angles in Juventus’ defensive third.

After ten minutes of sucking up pressure from the visitors, Juve finally decided to become more adventurous in the attack, with Alex Sandro sprinting down the left-wing and finding himself in the penalty area. The Brazilian left-back then played a cute little cut back into the feet of Morata who slipped it to Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portuguese star made no mistake by placing the ball into the bottom right corner.

After the first goal, the game dynamics did not alter much as Roma continued dominating possession but posed little threat in and around the box, while Juve were looking to exploit Roma’s high defensive line with balls over the top into channels or through Alex Sandro’s left-flank.

Roma’s neat possession play resulted in no shots in the first 20 minutes of the first half, before Bryan Cristante volleyed the ball on the edge of the box after a rebound, thus recording Roma’s first goal attempt of the game. Immediately after, Ronaldo could have doubled the score and got his second of the night, but he prodded the ball onto the crossbar from close range.

Five minutes before the break, Ronaldo found himself on the end of Juventus’ attack once again as he received a delightful long ball over the top by Morata, but his shot towards the left post lacked power and was well saved by Pau Lopez.

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— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) February 6, 2021

In the opening 15 minutes of the second half, both teams struggled to create any decent chances on the offensive end, with Juventus intentionally starting to slow the game down and preserve the 1-0 lead. In fact, it took more than 15 minutes to see the first attempt at goal as Gonzalo Villar unleashed a powerful drive after receiving the ball on the edge of Juventus’ box.

Around the 65^th minute mark, the game completely lost its momentum, as both teams started to make numerous substitutions. One of them proved to be decisive when Dejan Kulusevski was brought on in place of Alvaro Morata. It took the 20-year-old Swede only four minutes to influence the game as he sprinted down the right-wing and played a great low cross across the box which was accidentally placed into his own net by Roma’s defender Roger Ibanez.

After the second goal went in, the final 20 minutes of the game were just damage limitation for both sides. Following tonight’s win, Juventus have extended their winning running to six matches in all competitions and find themselves in the top three for the first time this season.  

 

MATCH REPORT

February 6, 2021 – Serie A 2020-2021 Round 21
JUVENTUS-ROMA 2-0

SCORERS: 13′ Cristiano Ronaldo, 70′ Ibanez o.g.

REFEREE: Mr. Orsato from Schio
NOTES: Yellow Cards: Arthur, Cristiano Ronaldo (J), Mancini, Kumbulla (R); Extra Time: 1st Half 1′, 2nd Half 5′