Let the narratives fly, folks. It was just one of those kinds of days for Juventus.
Not because of bad things actually happening on Sunday evening in Genoa. Quite the contrary! Juventus claimed their second win in as many games to begin the 2025-26 season with a 1-0 victory over Genoa at the Marassi, as Igor Tudor has now replicated the same kind of results as Thiago Motta did to begin his Juve managerial
career. But because of who scored the lone goal of the night and how Juve were oh-so-close to seeing that slim lead of theirs go up in smoke with essentially the last kick — or, in this case, head — of the ball before the final whistle.
That’s right.
For the second game in a row, Dusan Vlahovic was on the scoresheet. Last week, it was a goal that put away Parma once and for all. This week, though, it was even the more important, with his header off a Filip Kostic corner kick in the 73rd minute — SERIOUSLY, A PRODUCTIVE CORNER! — proving to be the game-winning goal that enabled Juve to claim six points out of a possible six to begin the season under Tudor.
But it wouldn’t be a tight Juve win without a little bit of a scare, right? Well, we certainly got that, too, as the final corner of the game after a big Michele Di Gregorio save resulted in Patrizio Masini getting a great look on goal, only to see his header hit off the top of the crossbar and keep Juventus in front. Di Gregorio was able to punch the ball away after it hit the woodwork to hopefully ease a little bit of the blood pressure spike that surely all of us were suddenly dealing with.
Just like we drew it up, right?
Doesn’t matter if it was the Vlahovc game-winning goal, the Kostic assist or the way that Genoa nearly tied things up in the 95th minute, it had a little bit of a corto muso feel to it once that final whistle did sound.
Ah bit of relief considering Genoa giving us all flashbacks to all those blown leads and subsequent draws last season. A smile because Juve is sitting at the top of the table as I write this. Certainly a nice mixture of the two considering how it all went down.
But, in the end, Juventus got the win and the striker who we all thought would be at another club by this point of the summer proved to be the difference maker after coming on for the guy who was signed to replace him.
See? Sweet, sweet narrative. It’s all there for us.
On a night when Juventus weren’t at their best by any stretch of the imagination, Vlahovic proved vital. Seriously, he did. If coming off the bench is going to be his role more often than not this season, then he’s showing the early returns of it have been quite fruitful. How much of it is the circumstances of where he finds himself at the club is feeding into it, who really knows, but Vlahovic — with some of his flaws still incredibly present — has come out firing to begin this new season.
And Juventus needed it dearly on Sunday night.
Genoa made things incredibly tough on Tudor’s squad. Their pressing was relentless, with Juventus’ passing giving you the feeling at times of if they were going to be able to actually string much of anything together. As much as Genoa weren’t creating much of anything in the final third until the final couple of minutes, it was a lot like last weekend’s season opener where Juve weren’t exactly peppering the opposing goalkeeper for much of the night. Outside of a couple of chances late in the first half — including the most notable from the man Vlahovic came on for in the second half, Jonathan David — it’s not like former Juve prospect Nicola Leali was all that busy at all.
Then … Vlahovic.
I don’t know what the odds were for Kostic and Vlahovic combining for a game-winning goal against Genoa, but I’m guessing if you put a decent amount of coin on that prop bet that you would be walking away with a giant pocket full of cash. And if you added the leg of the bet with Juve scoring their first goal off a corner since late December? Man, good on you because I certainly didn’t have that one.
Yet, here we are … on the day before Deadline Day … with the player who we all thought would have been sold by now scoring the decisive goal for Juventus. Who woulda thought, huh? Not me.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Never in doubt. Totally expected this one. Yep, never doubted Juventus for a second.
- At kickoff, I can safely say it is very loud at the Marassi. Holy smokes what an atmosphere.
- There being only one combined shot between Juve and Genoa after 20 minutes of game time definitely felt on the nose for how well this one started.
- Always a great sign of how the game is going when they cut to the Lega Serie A president in the stands and he’s checking his phone. It was definitely one of those kinds of opening 30 minutes.
- Juventus and Genoa combined for 20 fouls in the first half. It felt like there was a whistle happening ever 30-60 seconds. Yet, we only get one minute of stoppage time? That’s hilarious.
- Personally, I would like David to have another crack of that sitter that he missed. Or maybe he’s just got a little case of the Dusans. I dunno! (This was written well before Vlahovic’s late winner, folks. Relax.)
- It proved to be a pretty forgettable day for David after his heroics in the season opener last weekend. He wasn’t on the ball much, getting only 20 touches, and just didn’t feel like he was in the same kind flow as he was against Parma. That’s fine. It’s early. With how truncated this preseason was, it was always going to be tough for him to dominate early. He’s got the talent to do well — he just needs some time.
- Who would have guessed that Leali would make a couple of great saves against Juventus? It’s almost like these things are predetermined no matter who the opponent ends up being.
- But hey, props to Nicola for recognizing the hairline was going and going with the clean and shiny look. He pulls it off well.
- If you want to know just how much that first save from Leali on Federico Gatti was bound for goal, just go back and see the reaction from Manuel Locatelli to the save itself. Locatelli thought that was a goal. A lot of us probably thought it was a goal. And yet, Leali saved it and it was still scoreless at the half because of it.
- Speaking of reactions, the quick cut to Carlo Pinsoglio on the sideline after David missed that sitter … that was pretty much all of us in unison. I’ve never related more to Pinso in my life.
- Kostic assists. Thought we were done with them, but I’m not going to complain about it!
- Breaking news: Joao Mario is not comfortable on the left wing. More information to come as it becomes available to us.
- Seriously, though, I understand why Tudor took a bit of a gamble with Joao Mario on the left wing since Andrea Cambiaso was suspended. But the end result was not great, and hopefully that isn’t something we see against Inter in the Derby d’Italia in a couple of weeks.
- More breaking news: Bremer good. Welcome back again, my man.
- You want to know how hard Genoa made Juventus work on Sunday? Look at just how exhausted Kenan Yildiz looked on the bench after he was subbed off. That young man just looked completed spent.
- Sunday was a day in which we got the frustrating version of Francisco Conceição. No doubt about that.
- Khephren Thuram getting absolutely blasted in the forehead by a teammate’s close-range shot maybe should have been an early sign that this was going to be a tough day.
- Di Gregorio didn’t have much to do in goal all game, but he sure was crucial in the final couple of minutes o stoppage time. This is a man who just looks so much more comfortable in goal compared to this time last season. He’s really carried over his late-season form from the spring into this new campaign, and it’s quite nice to see.
- Nico González’s agents were basically finalizing his move to Atlético Madrid as he came onto the field in Genoa. Thank goodness he didn’t get hurt.
- Gatti played his first full 90 in a long time. That feels important.
- I, like you, probably had bad thoughts pop into my head when I saw Ruslan Malinovskyi come on as a late sub for Genoa. He’s just one of those dudes that feels like he hurts Juventus every single time he plays against them. Except for this one. Thank goodness.
- Juventus with two wins on the spin heaing into the international break. Hey, I’ll take it.
