Imperious Juventus crush Cagliari

Imperious Juventus crush Cagliari

Date: 19th August 2017 at 8:15pm
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New season, same Juventus as the Bianconeri made light work of Cagliari to win 3-0 at the Allianz Stadium in their Serie A opener.

There was no place for Douglas Costa, Federico Bernardeschi or Blaise Matuidi in the Juve starting eleven, but that needn’t have mattered as Paulo Dybala put on a show for the home fans. Daniele Rugani won his battle with Mehdi Benatia and partnered Giorgio Chiellini in defence.

Mario Mandzukic opened the scoring early on with a nice volley, then Dybala latched onto a Pirlo-esque pass from Miralem Pjanic to double the lead. Then Gonzalo Higuain made sure of three points by finishing off a nice move just after the hour.

The VAR system was also used for the first time in Serie A history, and it allowed Cagliari to be awarded a penalty. However Diego Farias was denied by Gianluigi Buffon.

There were early signs Juventus were in the mood as Pjanic went inches from opening the scoring with a freekick.

Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno was almost dispossessed in front of his own goal by Mandzukic, but managed to clear just in time.

That though was just a warning, as Stephan Lictsteiner fired a ball into the penalty area and Mandzukic made no mistake with a lightening volley past Cragno after just 12 minutes.

Unable to get out of their own half, Cagliari almost fell foul to Dybala as he tried a spectacular volley from the edge of the box, but it flew wide.

It was almost half an hour into the game before the Isolani had a meaningful attack as Farias found a yard but was denied by the quick reactions of Buffon, before Nicolo Barella ballooned over from six yards out.

We then had the first used of the VAR system in Serie A. Referee Fabio Maresca went to a replay as Alex Sandro appeared to foul Duje Cop in the area. A spot kick was then awarded, but it didn’t matter as Buffon was equal to Farias once again.

Thus it could have been 1-1, but Juve doubled their lead just before the break through Dybala.

Pjanic played a truly wonderful ball over the top of the Cagliari backline, from inside his own half, releasing the new Juventus No.10 one-on-one with Cragno and he made no mistake rifling by the Cagliari glovesman.

Dybala was clearly in the mood as he struck the bar almost immediately after the restart with another superlative effort from 18 yards.

Higuain made it three 66 minutes in. Sami Khedira played the ball out to Alex Sandro who fed Higuain in the box and the Argentina rolled the ball into the far corner, to open his account for the new season.

Juventus took their foot off the gas a little in the final 20 minutes, and didn’t create any clear cut chances, though Pjanic and Dybala both had shots blocked by the Cagliari backline.

Next weekend, Juventus travel to face Genoa, with Cagliari taking on AC Milan at the San Siro.

MATCH FACTS

  • Juventus are unbeaten in their last 38 home Serie A games (W35 D3).
  • Mario Mandzukic has scored two goals in his last three Serie A games – as many as in his previous 11.
  • Cagliari have conceded a goal in each of their last 20 away Serie A games.
  • Gianluigi Buffon has saved two of the last three penalties faced in Serie A.
  • Paulo Dybala has scored five goals in his last five appearances with Juventus (all compeitions).
  • Paulo Dybala scored with his first touch in the opposition box.
  • Gonzalo Higuain has scored with his first shot on target.

 

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