Juventus edged out Palermo 1-0 at the Renzo Barbera on Sunday afternoon in this Serie A showdown.
The only goal of the game came from Stephan Lichtsteiner who clinched the win in Juventus coach Antonio Conte’s return to the touchline.
Juventus created the first real opportunity of the match on nine minutes. Alessandro Matri was played in by Stephan Lichtsteiner and after a tussle, Massimo Donati appeared to have played the ball back to Samir Ujkani. The referee initially called for a backpass and an indirect free kick, but after a conference with the goal official, he negated the decision.
The hosts registered their first chance a little later. The ball broke to Jasmin Kurtic, who fired a shot from distance, but Gianluigi Buffon was equal to the task and batted the effort clear. The danger continued shortly thereafter when Fabrizio Miccoli darted down the right flank and knocked in a cross to Josip Ilicic, but Andrea Barzagli put in a block.
Palermo continued to hammer Juve in the early going. Miccoli peeled away from Giorgio Chiellini and looked to have scored, but the assistant put his flag up for offside.
Finally the Bianconeri mustered something on the half hour mark. Claudio Marchisio had a hit on the edge of the box, but curled the effort just over the crossbar. Minutes later, Arturo Vidal played in a cross to Matri, he then chested it down for Marchisio whose shot was saved by Ujkani, then Vucinic ended up hitting the post from the rebound.
Seconds after the restart, it was Juventus who managed the first opportunity of the interval. Matri found Vucinic, who then ran into the area and hit a shot, but it grazed the far post and went out.
The goal came in the 50th minute when Lichtsteiner read Vucinic’s run and he backheeled the ball to himself and then placed it in the far post to make it 1-0 for the Bianconeri.
Things got heated when Michel Morganella received his second booking for a rash challenge on Kwadwo Asamoah, reducing Palermo to 10 men.
Just before added time in the second half, Leonardo Bonucci was played through and looked to have been fouled by Ujkani as he ran towards the net, but he ended up getting booked for diving.
The Bianconeri managed to hold on for their third victory in eight days.
