Sunday, November 9, 2008
Chievo - Juventus 0-2
Alessandro Del Piero celebrated his 34th birthday in style with yet another stunning free kick goal, as Juventus made it six wins on the bounce in all competitions with a 2-0 victory over Chievo at the Stadio Bentegodi.
Team News & Build-Up
Juventus were on a real roll coming into this fixture, having racked up five wins on the bounce in all competitions, including a magnificent 2-0 win at Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek. The two-goal hero from the Bernabeu, Alex Del Piero, celebrated his 34th birthday by leading the forward line alongside Vincenzo Iaquinta, with Amauri and Pavel Nedved rested.
The Bianconeri were still without a whole host of injured players, as Andrade, Zanetti, Zebina, Trezeguet, Buffon, Poulsen, Knezevic, and Salihamidzic were all sidelined. Tiago continued his recent run of games in the middle-of-the-park.
Hosts Chievo were in dire form, having lost three on the trot in Serie A. The Flying Donkeys had in fact lost five of their last six league fixtures, and were languishing in 19th place having not won since the opening day of the season.
This prompted the Chievo board to sack coach Giuseppe Iachini on Tuesday, and bring in Domenico Di Carlo, but it could not have been a tougher debut for the former Vicenza midfielder.
First Half
Chievo had a penalty shout within the first 90 seconds for a handball against Tiago, but the referee waved away the appeals.
On six minutes Juve were inches away from taking the lead when Momo Sissoko's 20-yard piledriver shaved Stefano Sorrentino's right hand post.
Davide Mandelli shot off-target down the other end, before the home side squandered the best chance of the game so far on 11 minutes, as Mauro Esposito crossed to the near post for Sergio Pellissier, who wastefully blasted the ball wide from just six yards out.
The pitch surface was very soft, and players from both sides were losing their footing regularly. This cost Iaquinta dearly midway through the half as he slipped over when clean through on goal.
The situation was becoming so farcical that there was movement on the Juventus bench to change the footwear of the entire team, presumably at half time.
Del Piero had not been so prominent in this game as he had against Madrid four days earlier, but he burst into life on 34 minutes with a superb turn outside the box, but his finish was wayward.
This was only a sign of things to come as, five minutes before the break, the Golden Boy broke the deadlock. Once again he did the damage from a free kick, curling over a stunning shot from 30 yards into the top corner of the net. It was the perfect birthday present for Del Piero, who has now incredibly scored five free kicks this season, three of these in the past week alone.
There was a flashpoint right on the half time whistle as Sissoko sneakily tripped Mario Yepes, sparking a melee between the two sets of players, who argued and tussled as they made their way to the dressing rooms.
Second Half
Perhaps influenced by this, Claudio Ranieri decided to take Sissoko off at half time, replacing him with youngster Albin Ekdal.
Just six minutes into the second half, Juventus were handed a golden chance to double their advantage as Andrea Mantovani was penalised for handling in the area. Del Piero stood aside to allow Iaquinta to take the spot-kick. Sorrentino brilliantly pushed away his effort, but he could do nothing to prevent the ex-Udinese man from thrashing home the rebound.
Chievo knew they had to mix things up, and Di Carlo made a double change just past the hour mark, introducing Luciano and Antimo Iunco for Esposito and Langella. Luciano immediately got into the action, heading wide from a right-wing cross.
Del Piero was looking for his second of the game, and he tested Sorrentino with a low shot after some excellent build-up play from Iaquinta.
On 72 minutes Chievo players cried for a penalty when Iunco's cross struck the hand of Nicola Legrottaglie but, to the fury of Pellissier and Iunco, the referee deemed the contact ball-to-hand.
Chievo were not giving up, and with eight minutes remaining they squandered a fantastic chance to set up a tense finale, as Pellissier somehow turned the ball wide of a virtual open goal.
With four minutes to go Del Piero was substituted, and just like against Madrid in midweek, he was handed a rousing standing ovation by the home crowd.
Substitute Grygera was centimetres away from adding a third for the Bianconeri in the final minute when he crashed a long range shot against the crossbar, but Juve were more than happy to settle for a 2-0 win, their sixth successive victory in all competitions.
Teams
Chievo: Sorrentino, Malago, Mandelli, Yepes, Mantovani, Pinzi, Bentivoglio, Marcolini, Langella (Luciano 63), Pellissier, Esposito (Iunco 63)
Juventus: Manninger, Mellberg, Chiellini, Legrottaglie, Molinaro, Marchionni, Sissoko (Ekdal 46), Tiago (Grygera 83), De Ceglie, Del Piero (Amauri 88), Iaquinta
Goals
Del Piero 40 (J)
Iaquinta pen 51 (J)
Anthony Sormani
Goal.com
Pictures:
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