The month of December has been nothing but Big Games for Juventus. In the last 18 days, they’ve played a Coppa Italia knockout match, a must-win Champions League match, and league games against three of the six teams that were ahead of them in the standings on December 1.
They’ve ended up acquitting themselves quite well over that span. They won all but one of them, with the only loss coming when early tactical decisions gifted the game to Napoli. Last week’s win over Bologna saw them vault two places
in the standings, and while they couldn’t make a similar jump in Saturday’s match against fourth-place Roma, a win would haul them to within a point of the Giallorossi, placing them firmly in the race for the Champions League spots as the holidays approach.
That win wouldn’t be an easy thing. Roma came in possessing Serie A’s best defense, having conceded only eight times in 15 matches. But their attack has been unable to keep up, and their record against other teams in the top five was abysmal. Juve, conversely, were looking better and better as Luciano Spalletti’s management has had time to sink in.
That upward tick in form continued at the Allianz on Saturday. Juve played their most complete game in nearly a year, holding Roma at bay defensively while looking progressively better as an attacking unit. They scored two well-worked goals before a mistake in their own half allowed the visitors a lifeline, but the Bianconeri didn’t let it rattle them, and held on for a 2-1 win that put them firmly into the upper reaches of the table.
Going into the game there was speculation that with Teun Koopmeiners suspended for yellow card accumulation Spalletti would change formations and use a four-man back line, but instead he stayed with the 3-4-2-1 that his charges have been playing all year. Federico Gatti, Juan Cabal, Carlo Pinsoglio, and Dusan Vlahovic also missed out due to injury. Michele Di Gregorio started in goal. Bremer made his first start since October, manning the middle of the back three between Pierre Kalulu and Lloyd Kelly. Weston McKennie and Andrea Cambiaso were the wing-backs, flanking the midfield pivot of Manuel Locatelli and Khéphren Thuram. Francisco Conceição and Kenan Yildiz backed up Loïs Openda in the attack.
Gian Piero Gasperini had been in consideration for the Juve job over the summer, but chose to go to Roma instead. He also employed a 3-4-2-1, as he had for many years at Atalanta. He was facing a selection crisis in the back, with Mario Hermoso injured and Evan Ndika and Neil El Aynaoui gone to the Africa Cup of Nations. Artem Dovbyk was left home injured as well. Mile Svilar was at the base of the formation, with the re-jiggered back three of Gianluca Mancini, Devyne Rensch, and Jan Ziólkowski arrayed in front of him. Zeki Çelik and Wesley were out wide, bracketing Manu Koné and Bryan Cristante in midfield. The attack was made up of one Roma stalwart, Lorenzo Pellegrini, and two former Juve standouts, Matías Soulé and Paulo Dybala.
The game was thoroughly entertaining from the outset, with both teams moving the ball up and down the field. In the eighth minute Locatelli tried to surprise Svilar on a long free kick but wasn’t able to beat the Serbian keeper. A few minutes later Dybala squeezed a shot through a tiny window, but right to Di Gregorio.
In the opening minutes Juve were hoofing the ball upfield for Openda to battle for in the air—not the Belgian’s strong suit. But as the first half wore on, they began putting the ball through for him to chase, and issues began to appear for the Roma back line. Ziólkowski was able to just beat him to one ball, but others caused far more trouble. A great roll through the channel by Thuram put Openda one-on-one with Svilar, but he decided to square it at the last moment rather than pass, and Roma were able to scramble it clear. Openda turned provider a few minutes later but Thuram blasted the ball over.
Roma had a few chances late in the half, but nothing that would have truly worried Di Gregorio. But it was Juve who struck right at the stroke of halftime. In the 43rd minute, some nifty dribbling by Yildiz opened up a pass to Conceição, but the Portuguese winger put the ball right at Svilar, who then thankfully watched Openda’s followup deflect over. But 80 seconds later Conceição made sure of it, receiving a beautiful flick from Cambiaso and slamming a shot across Svilar and into the far side of the net.
The half started pretty open, the teams moving the ball quickly up and down the field. But soon the dangerous attacks were heading for Roma’s side of the field. Openda set up Yildiz for a shot that fizzed just outside the far post, and a minute later Yildiz sent Conceição through the middle and past Wesley, but his attempt at a back-heel wasn’t able to get over Svilar. The chances were coming thick and fast, and it was only another minute or so before Svilar was brought into action again, this time by a rocket off the foot of Cambiaso that Svilar only got his hands to because it was right at him—and then only barely.
But around the hour mark the good vibes were harshed. Conceição, who a few minutes before had looked like he’d taken a wrong step, went down holding his hamstring and signaled to the bench he needed to come off. He attempted to play on while the bench scrambled for his replacement, but went down again trying to help defend. Even worse, Bremer lowered himself to the deck at the same time, making for a short return to the starting lineup for the Brazilian. Edon Zhegrova and Daniele Rugani were made ready to replace them.
Roma’s attack immediately looked better after Bremer’s departure, winning a few corners and seeing Mancini drive one of them over the bar after Ziólkowski got in his way. It looked more and more like a second goal would be required to salt the game away. Zhegrova clearly thought so, because with 20 minutes left he lofted a perfect cross to McKennie, who drove a powerful header at goal. Svilar managed to save the shot, but only pushed it back into McKennie’s path, and the American quickly poked the ball to Openda, who easily tapped the ball into the net for his first Serie A goal.
It proved to be an incredibly useful goal, because as Zhegrova gaveth, Zhegrova tooketh away. The Kosovo international was dispossessed from behind by Wesley, and substitute Evan Ferguson was able to fire a hard, low shot that Di Gregorio met with a one-handed parry, but Cambiaso had allowed Tommaso Baldanzi to walk right past him to tap home the rebound and put Roma back into the game with 15 minutes left.
But Juve didn’t shrink in the face of the potential comeback. Five minutes after the goal Locatelli tackled the ball off Koné and led a three-man counterattack that ended with Yildiz hitting a ball that damn near cracked the goalpost in half, the rebound coming at Openda so fast that he couldn’t set his feet to try to turn it back in. Roma, meanwhile, struggled to create anything. Baldanzi blazed a layoff wide with nine minutes to go, but the next Roma shot came in deep into stoppage time when Rugani badly misplayed a ball in the air and gifted Ferguson the chance to equalize, but the Irishman’s shot was too tame to cause Di Gregorio real trouble. It was only a few more moments before the final whistle sounded, giving Juve two wins in three in this big Serie A stretch and cementing themselves into the race for the top spots in the table.
