TORINO – Juventus needed the velvet of a match like this, after all sooner or later they would have ended up collecting the minimum credit that is worth not playing the cups: Fiorentina had other things to think about, the truly important matches had one behind them (the semi-final of the Italian Cup) and one on the horizon (Viktoria Plzen in the Conference, Thursday) and it was only human that in this middle match, essentially irrelevant to his fate, the tension fell to a minimum: nothing scandalous, very human. It is the famous debt that is paid to play in Europe, to compete for everything: Juventus can’t wait to return among the debtors and also thanks to this result it will happen, because yesterday’s victory certifies the exit from the crisis and shortens the distances from the next Champions League, for which the 70 points indicated by Allegri will end up being enough: with a couple of victories (the circumstances have already been identified: at home against Salernitana and Monza, on the last day) and a couple of draws the objective will be centered. In the space of five days, the Bianconeri have shaken off the fear of not making it, even if yesterday they almost single-handedly caused themselves a good half hour of senseless final suffering.
«The match report»
To regain the victory that had been missing in the league since the end of February (and the good old 1-0 even since December 30th), Juve limited themselves to waiting for time to pass: they left the ball to Fiorentina (the Viola’s ball possession was absurdly 75 percent) and then he was mainly careful not to get bored, given the dance-hall pace when Sunday is about to end and we wearily drag ourselves towards closing time. A few outbursts in the first half were enough for her, taking advantage of the fact that Vlahovic still had a great desire to accelerate: the actions in which he was involved were however canceled out by the offside (never his, however), since the first once the linesman and the other two times the VAR disallowed a goal from McKennie and two from the Serbian in the space of half an hour, as in 2020 against Barcelona.
Juve thus had to score from a free kick (Kostic’s corner, Bremer’s post, Gatti’s tap in) and they made it enough, because for at least an hour Fiorentina did not exist. But by dint of settling for the boredom of a cloying match, the Bianconeri ended up coming out of it and Allegri’s shouts agitated them more than waking them up: so the end became a long slide of anxious suffering, because Fiorentina – a little due to inertia and partly because it couldn’t go slower than the first half – it found itself waiting near the Juventus area and balls inevitably began to fall towards Szczesny. Juve, evidently still recovering, was scared, the substitutions gave energy to Viola and only the fingertips of the Polish goalkeeper, who sent Gonzalez’s poisonous left-footed shot against the crossbar, saved them not only from a draw foolish but above all a bad impression when there was little more than a quarter of an hour left to go and the whole team was now barricaded in defense and even more so in the dark rooms of their own fear. In the general void (just two shots on each side), the most grotesque thing is the number of balls played by the Juventus director, Locatelli: 21. He is the director of a film without a script.
Vlahovic searched for the goal with obstinacy and growing nervousness (yet he had started well), Chiesa left early without ever actually coming on (after the substitution he discussed at length with Allegri) and in short the two former Viola remained at the dry against the team they grew up with. From today, in any case, everyone will have something else to think about: Fiorentina about their cups, Juventus about how they can finally live without anguish to keep them company.
Juventus-Fiorentina 1-0 (1-0)
Juventus (3-5-2) Szczesny – Gatti, Bremer, Danilo – Cambiaso (30′ st Alcaraz), McKennie, Locatelli, Rabiot, Kostic (14′ st Iling-Junior) – Vlahovic (40′ st Kean), Chiesa (14′ st Yildiz). All. Allegri.
Fiorentina (4-2-3-1) Terracciano – Kayode (39′ st Dodô), Milenkovic, Ranieri, Biraghi – Bonaventura, Mandragora (1′ st Lopez) – Gonzalez, Barak (16′ st Nzola), Kouamé (16′ st Beltran) – Belotti (1′ st Sottil ). All. Italian.
Referee: The pen.
Net: 21′ pt Gatti
Note: Cambiaso, Yildiz, Beltran booked. Spectators 37,994.
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– 2024-04-09 08:37:35
