Juventus defeated Roma 3-2 in a breathless contest at the Juventus Arena on Sunday evening in Serie A.
There were penalties galore as Carlos Tevez scored two for the Bianconeri whilst Francesco Totti netted one for the away side who also scored through Juan Manuel Iturbe and Leonardo Bonucci won the game with a wonderful volley.
In the first half the Giallorossi were controlling the possession but it was Juventus who had the most attempts, none of them being clear-cut chances.
In the 25th minute, Juventus were awarded a free-kick which was taken by Andrea Pirlo and blocked by the arm of Maicon in the Roma wall.
At first, the referee Gianluca Rocchi gave Juventus another free-kick but after a few seconds of pressure from the Bianconeri players he changed his mind and awarded a penalty.
Tevez stroked the penalty in the bottom corner to give the home side a 1-0 lead.
Minutes later Roma were given a spot kick also, this time Stephan Lichtsteiner appeared to block Totti’s run and the fouled man stepped up and guided the ball into the corner.
The game was getting heated with both teams making unnecessary fouls leading to six yellow cards in the first half.
The Giallorossi took the lead soon after following a weaving run from Gervinho, who played in Iturbe and he slotted the ball down the side of Gianluigi Buffon into the bottom corner.
Then in injury time of the first half, Juventus were awarded another penalty. This one was also controversial with Miralem Pjanic seemingly making little contact with Paul Pogba.
It was Tevez again who stepped up and hit a perfect penalty, tucking it right into the bottom left corner. The two teams went into the break level at 2-2.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Roma had a great chance to take the lead. Good work from Gervinho on the wing had the Ivorian pull the ball back for Pjanic who somehow dragged his shot wide from close range.
In the last quarter of an hour the away side were inches away form taking the lead. From a corner, the loose ball fell to Nainggolan whose shot was diverted a whisker wide by the Juventus defender.
With 82 minutes on the clock, the Old Lady were closest to grabbing a winner. An inch perfect cross found Alvaro Morata who headed onto the crossbar.
The home side did take the lead late on through an absolute wonder strike from Bonucci. A corner was headed away and the defender showed great technique to volley home into the bottom corner from just outside the box.
There was yet more drama as two red cards were shown. Manolas was not happy with Morata’s challenge on him and the two squared up which led to them both being sent off.
The champions held on to continue their 100% start to the Serie A season and claim a very important victory against their rivals.
