Saturday, January 31, 2009
Juventus - Cagliari 2-3
Juventus were beaten 3-2 at home by a hugely impressive Cagliari, who recorded their third victory in a week and further jeopardised the Bianconeri's Scudetto challenge.
Juventus hosted an in-form Cagliari side at the Stadio Olimpico of Turin knowing that only victory would allow them to keep up with Serie A leaders Inter. Coach Claudio Ranieri welcomed back captain Alessandro Del Piero, who played along with Amauri in Juve’s attack. Meanwhile, Cagliari played in a 4-3-1-2 with Andrea Cossu behind Jeda and Robert Acquafresca up front.
First Half
True to their impressive recent form, Cagliari started the match better than Juve, putting a lot of pressure on the Bianconeri all over the pitch.
The first big chance came in the 13th minute for the home side, however, as Nicola Legrottaglie tried to slice the ball in on a low cross by Marco Marchionni, but the Cagliari goalkeeper came up with a brilliant save to keep it out.
A minute later, Mohamed Sissoko wasted a big chance to put Juve in front, as he found himself alone in front of the keeper after a nice exchange with Amauri, but he sent the ball wide of the goal.
In the 16th minute, Cagliari took the lead through Davide Biondini, who headed in a great cross by Michele Fini from the right, beating Marchionni in the air to make it 1-0 to the Rossoblu.
The home side responded in the 19th minute, when Del Piero sent the ball over the bar with a header on a cross from the right by Marchionni.
However, the visitors nearly made it 2-0 two minutes later, when Jeda dribbled past a couple of defenders and cut the ball back to Cossu, who slipped just when he was about to take a shot on goal.
Juve were clearly struggling at this point, but they found an equaliser at the most unexpected time. Around the half hour mark, they won a corner, which was taken by Del Piero, who found Sissoko in the area to head the ball past Marchetti and make it all square again.
Cagliari did not look out of sorts after this setback, and in the 37th minute they came close to scoring again, as Fini tried an audacious volley on a cross by Cossu, but sent the ball wide of the post.
The home side grabbed the lead in the 38th minute thanks to evergreen midfield warrior Pavel Nedved, who controlled a loose ball with his chest and fired in a low shot toward the bottom corner that beat Marchetti.
Two minutes later, the Czech star threatened again, sending the ball just wide of the post with another shot from the edge of the area on a pass by Marchionni.
That was the last chance of an entertaining first half, which saw Juve take a 2-1 lead somewhat against the run of play.
Second Half
Cagliari started the second half strongly, and after Cossu had sent in a dangerous cross that eluded everyone in the 52nd minute, Jeda found a well-deserved equaliser for the Rossoblu a minute later. A quick counterattack saw Cossu play a perfect ball to Jeda, who beat the offside trap before lobbing the ball over goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, to make it 2-2.
The match wasn’t as exciting as in the first half in the restart, as Cagliari tried to hold on to the draw following their equaliser and play possession football.
In the 68th minute, Nedved was very dangerous again as he controlled an assist by Legrottaglie with his head and fired the ball just wide from inside the area.
Juve came close again two minutes later, when Cristian Molinaro made a run on the left wing and sent in a cross that was met by Amauri, who headed the ball straight at the goalkeeper from a good position.
At the other end, substitute Andrea Lazzari came close for Cagliari, firing a shot that was deflected by Legrottaglie and went just wide of Buffon’s left post.
The visitors took a surprise lead in the 79th minute, when Jeda cut the ball back inside the area following a counter-attack and substitute Alessandro Matri slotted the ball past Buffon to make it 2-3.
In the last ten minutes of the match, Juventus looked powerless and failed to trouble Cagliari’s goalkeeper again. This costly defeat might see them drop nine points behind leaders Inter if the Nerazzurri win their match against Torino tomorrow.
Teams
Juventus (4-4-2): Buffon; Mellberg, Legrottaglie, Chiellini (71’ Grygera), Molinaro; Marchionni (69’ Iaquinta), Sissoko, Zanetti (21’ Marchisio), Nedved; Amauri, Del Piero. Coach: Ranieri.
Cagliari (4-3-1-2): Marchetti; Pisano, Bianco, Canini, Agostini; Biondini, Conti, Fini (85’ Parola); Cossu (69’ Lazzari); Jeda, Acquafresca (60’ Matri). Coach: Allegri.
Goals: 16’ Biondini (C), 31’ Sissoko (J), 38’ Nedved (J), 54’ Jeda (C), 78’ Matri (C)
Booked: Chiellini, Del Piero (J); Agostini, Conti, Pisano (C)
Danilo Pochini,
Goal.com
PICTURES
Del Piero: "It Was A Strange Match"
Disappointment was obvious in the captain’s voice following the home defeat against Cagliari.
"It was a strange match. We started off really well creating two good chances but they went ahead. We must work on the defensive phase however. We have a lot to work on. The equalizer put us a bit off track. We wanted to do well and were in a frenzy. There were different things that did not work".
Wednesday sees Juventus playing at home against Napoli in a match valid for the Coppa Italia quarter-finals: " We are disappointed and will begin working on Wednesday from tonight".
Juventus.com
Ranieri: "We Must Pull Our Socks Up"
Ranieri is far from satisfied after the match even though the Juventus coach is determined to get back to victory as from Wednesday.
"We knew that Cagliari would have played in that way basing their game on speed and counter-attacks, knowing that they could create difficulties for us. We went under by a goal scored on counter-attack. Then with Marchisio coming on for Zanetti we found some equilibrium and managed to equalize and go ahead".
"It was probably the will to win that put us a bit off balance. We wanted to score and win and were caught a bit high and suffered their counter-attacks. We were a bit frantic and I told the players this at the end of the first half. The championship is still long but we must study why we are conceding so many goals. We had the best defence but we suddenly seemed to forget this".
The bad moment has coincided with the recovery of Buffon: "Buffon has had unlucky comeback. Before we did not allow the opponents to shoot towards goal so much and if it weren’t for Gigi lately we would have suffered even heavier defeat".
Any similarity with the bad moment in the first round? "I don’t know. I would like to find an analogy because we had 5 victories after that in January and the only defeat against Inter. We are in a good state of form not perfect but good. We must now try to get back by being tranquil, watch the videos of our mistakes and see what we can do to get back on the right track. We must pull up our socks".
Juventus.com
Cobolli Gigli : 'Amauri Will Not Answer To The International Call-Up. It’s A Decision By The Club"
Following the match against Cagliari the result is not the only thing that is worth commenting about. The theme of the day is Amauri’s call-up to the Brazilian national team for the friendly against Italy on the 10th of February in London.
Juventus answered to this through the declaration of president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli: "We have not yet received any note of the call-up and are already beyond the time limit. I discussed the matter with Blanc and at the end we decided that we will not allow the player to respond to the call-up. Juventus will take complete responsibility of this decision but Amauri will stay here with us because it is a time when we must remain united".
The president went on to speak of the match and the particular moment. "It has been a really difficult and complicated week. In respect to the Udine match I saw a team which was better toned but which found in Cagliari a difficult opponent".
"Up to a few days ago we had the best defence in the championship but we conceded 5 goals in two matches, with the ones today all coming from counter-attacks. It is definitely not a good moment but we will not give up. The Juventus pride will help us come back as from the match on Wednesday against Napoli".
Juventus.com
Agricola : "Zanetti’s Condition Rather Worrying. Chiellini Should Be OK"
In an interview at end of the match Riccardo Agricola, head of the Juventus medical team spoke of the injuries suffered by Cristiano Zanetti and Giorgio Chiellini.
"Zanetti’s injury does not seem to be encouraging. The player left the pitch suffering from a sharp pain. He will have to undergo other tests but the things seem to be rather complicated".
"With regards to Chiellini, the defender felt the beginning of a muscle strain and decided to stop rather then force it. However, Giorgio seemed alright after the match even though we have to confirm this".
Juventus.com
