Saturday, February 21, 2009
Palermo - Juventus 0-2
A solid Juventus managed to beat Palermo 2-0 away from home thanks to goals by Mohamed Sissoko and David Trezeguet, who scored his first goal since returning from a long injury.
Following Inter’s 2-1 away to Bologna earlier today, Juventus knew they needed all three points from the trip to Palermo to keep their slim Scudetto hopes alive. Coach Claudio Ranieri opted to keep captain Alessandro Del Piero and Amauri on the bench at the start, playing with Vincenzo Iaquinta and the returning David Trezeguet in attack in a 4-4-2 system. Meanwhile, Palermo played in a 4-3-1-2 formation with Fabio Simplicio behind strikers Edison Cavani and Fabrizio Miccoli.
First Half
The start of the match was all in favor of the home side, with Miccoli coming close twice in the opening minutes. In the second minute, he made a run into the area and hit the ball with the outside of his foot, but Gianluigi Buffon managed to keep it out.
Two minutes later, the former Italian international struck a shot from outside the area that hit the underside of the crossbar but didn’t go in, and Buffon easily grabbed Simplicio’s close range header on the rebound.
The visitors responded in the sixth minute, when Trezeguet controlled a difficult ball well inside the area, and tried a shot on goal that was well saved by Marco Amelia.
Palermo continued to control the match, but Juve did manage to respond from time to time. In the 22nd minute Pavel Nedved took a dangerous shot from 30 meters that forced Amelia into another good stop.
Five minutes later, the Bianconeri took the lead, somewhat against the run of play. Midfielder Mohamed Sissoko found space to shoot from outside the area after going past Cesare Bovo, and fired a thunderbolt that went in just under the crossbar to make it 1-0 to the visitors.
The Rosanero did not let their heads down and in the 31st minute they claimed a penalty as Buffon seemed to bring down Cavani in the area whilst completely ignoring the ball, but for some reason the referee ignored the incident.
Juve seemed to have a good chance in the 33rd minute, when Iaquinta forced Amelia into a brilliant save with a close range header, but the Italian striker had started from an offside position.
After scoring the first goal the visitors took over control of the match, and they created another couple of chances before the break. In the 40th minute, Nedved came close with a shot toward the bottom corner after receiving a good ball from Sissoko on the left side of the area, but once again Amelia was alert and kept it out.
Three minutes later, Buffon’s deputy in the Italian national team was put to work again as he dove to keep out a dangerous low shot by Iaquinta.
The last chance of an entertaining half was for the hosts, Cavani making a good run toward the edge of the area before firing it low towards the corner of the net, but it went just wide of the target.
Second Half
No changes were made during half time by either coach. At the start of the second half, Juve kept very tight in defence, trying to make themselves dangerous mostly through counterattacks.
Because of this, there was a shortage of chances in the opening stages. The first chance of the restart came in the 62nd minute, when former Juventus man Antonio Nocerino forced Buffon into a good save with a shot from a seemingly hopeless distance.
The Italian international was called into action again five minutes later on a dangerous strike by Miccoli, though again it was a shot from distance by the Rosanero.
In the 71st minute, former Palermo star Amauri made his entrance on the pitch for Iaquinta, and received a lukewarm applause from the home crowd. Four minutes later, he fashioned his first chance as he tried an audacious overhead kick on a cross from the left by Nedved, but Amelia came up with a superb save.
In the 79th minute, the Brazilian created the second goal of the match for Juve, as he made a good run on the left and played the ball into the center of the area for Trezeguet, who fired a shot that was deflected off Simon Kjaer and past Amelia.
In the last ten minutes of the match, Juve had no problems hanging on to their lead as Palermo failed to create any more chances. This victory will allow them to remain nine points below Inter and they will remain second regardless of Milan’s result tomorrow.
Teams
Palermo (4-3-1-2): Amelia; Cassani, Kjaer, Bovo (89’ Tedesco), Balzaretti; Nocerino (82’ Succi), Liverani, Bresciano; Simplicio; Cavani, Miccoli. Coach: Ballardini.
Juventus (4-4-2): Buffon; Grygera, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro; Camoranesi (68’ Marchionni), Sissoko (92’ Poulsen), Tiago, Nedved; Trezeguet, Iaquinta (71’ Amauri). Coach: Ranieri.
Goals: 27’ Sissoko (J), 79’ Trezeguet (J)
Booked: Bovo (P); Grygera, Molinaro, Camoranesi (J)
Danilo Pochini,
Goal.com
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