Juventus continued their 100 percent record in Serie A Femminile on Sunday evening as they comfortably dispatched of Fiorentina with a 3-0 win in Tuscany.
Fiorentina are considered one of the sides capable of causing problems for the bigger teams in the division such as Juve, AC Milan, and Sassuolo. That is why it won’t have filled those teams with much confidence to see Juve cruise past Fiorentina by scoring three times and missing plenty of presentable chances in the process.
Though Fiorentina did have two or three of their own opportunities during the game and maintained a threat on the counter, the Bianconere were utterly dominant and looked no different to the side that won every game of the season under Rita Guarino last year.
It was the ever-dangerous Barbara Bonansea who opened the scoring for Juve shortly before half-time. She persisted into the Fiorentina box with defenders seemingly just falling over in her wake, before calmly slotting past Sabrina Tasselli.
?Pin-point precision = @ValeCernoia7 ?#FiorentinaJuve #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/erEM3NPgp4
— Juventus Women (@JuventusFCWomen) September 7, 2021
Juve and Bonansea’s second goal came just as Fiorentina had a good chance down the other end with just over 15 minutes left to play. A Valentina Cernoia cross found its way to Bonansea on the edge of the box and she fired it in to kill the game.
Before those two goals, she and Cristiana Girelli had multiple opportunities that on another day, may well have been converted for a more emphatic scoreline. Bonansea in particular had a chance at the near post early in the game, as well as a chance very similar to her second goal, which she squandered.
Valentina Cernoia rounded the game off nicely for Juve by scoring what simply must be a goal of the season contender already. She fired an absolute rocket of a free-kick into the top corner, which she deserved after being dangerous all evening on the left-hand side.
IS ANYONE CHALLENGING JUVENTUS?
The reassuring element to this weekend for all neutrals or non-Juve fans is that four other teams have managed to win their opening two games and keep tabs with Juventus.
Roma, Milan, Sassuolo, and Inter all won again this weekend to keep the fight going against Joe Montemurro’s Juve for as long as possible. This is great news for the league because as it stands there appears to be five teams who, when they play each other, there will be a lot on the line.
The fixture list is leaving everyone waiting in that respect, as it won’t be until matchday four that any of the aforementioned teams will be playing each other.
Roma were expected to be weaker than last season after the departures of Lindsey Thomas and Agnese Bonfantini but they’ve taken six points from their opening two fixtures. They blitzed Napoli in the first 20 minutes this weekend by scoring three quickfire goals. That ended 4-1 to the Giallorosse.
Sassuolo showed that they have goals in abundance this season after new signing Lana Clelland got their first two away at Hellas Verona, bringing her to three for the season already. Juve loanee Sofia Cantore also got her first for the club, and Claudia Ferrato made it 4-0 late on.
There were fewer goals for Milan this week but they managed a 1-0 win away to Sampdoria who, despite being a brand new side, appear to be a talented outfit capable of making life hard for the big teams.
Finally, Inter kept tabs on those at the top by beating Lazio 1-0 thanks to a Gloria Marinelli strike, who appears to be a player to keep a very close eye on this season.
The fact that these teams are winning games with some added flair is excellent for the league, but if Juventus are able to go away to a quality side like Fiorentina, underperform in some respects, and still come away with a 3-0 victory and a host of missed opportunities, it’s going to take something extremely special for them to not win a fifth straight Serie A Femminile title.
ROUND 2 RESULTS
Hellas Verona 0-4 Sassuolo
Roma 4-1 Napoli
Sampdoria 0-1 Milan
Fiorentina 0-3 Juventus
Inter 1-0 Lazio
Pomigliano 2-2 Empoli
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