Juventus vs. Lazio: Winners and Losers from Serie a
After Napoli emphatically showed the world that they haven't given up on fighting for the Scudetto, Juventus stepped onto the field at the Juventus Stadium on Wednesday knowing that only a win would restore their nine-point lead at the top of the table.
Their opponents were Lazio, who have endured a miserable season the year after finishing third in the league and who hadn't beaten Juventus in 22 tries dating back to December 2003.
Juve duly made it 23, walking out of their palatial home ground with a 3-0 win almost as convincing as Napoli's 6-0 demolition of Bologna 24 hours before.
The Biancocelesti held their own for almost the entire first half before the four-time defending champions broke them yet again. A close-range tap-in by Mario Mandzukic in the 39th minute opened the scoring after Lazio goalkeeper Federico Marchetti made four excellent saves to keep the game scoreless.
It still had the makings of a contest when full-back Patric was sent off for a second bookable offense three minutes after the restart. Sixteen minutes later Paulo Dybala had put the game out of reach, netting a penalty and finishing off an excellent counterattack to record his first goals since coming back from a calf injury over the weekend.
Who were the winners and losers as Juve moved ever closer to a fifth consecutive title? Read on to find out.
Winner: Paulo Dybala
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How long would it take Dybala to get back to being his old self after missing three weeks due to injury? About 120 minutes.
That was how long it took for him to score after his return over the weekend, slamming home from the spot past Federico Marchetti. Twelve minutes later he finished a dazzling counterattack with a strong finish from a Sami Khedira assist.
They were his 15th and 16th goals of the season, giving him sole possession of second place on the Serie A scoring chart behind the obscene form of Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain.
It was surprising it took him that long to find the net. Marchetti pulled off a pair of stunning saves in the first half to deny the Argentinian, first on a point-blank cannon shot in the ninth minute and then off a rare header in the 22nd.
Substituted after 75 minutes as he regains physical fitness, Dybala is once again in form, and his impact will be felt over the next week as Juve look to lock up the Scudetto.
Loser: Patric
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Getting a red card will put you on the loser list every time, and Patric is no exception.
Going down to 10 men at the Juventus Stadium is never a good thing, especially when a team is already behind. That's what happened only three minutes into the second half, after the Spanish full-back received his second booking.
He can't argue with either call. He slammed into Mario Mandzukic on the sideline four minutes before halftime, leaving the Croatian on the ground for several minutes nursing the impact. The second caution was just as obvious when he grabbed the arm of a streaking Dybala and yanked him back.
Lazio never recovered, giving up a pair of goals within 15 minutes of Patric's dismissal.
Winner: Mario Mandzukic
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With Alvaro Morata suspended due to yellow card accumulation, Mandzukic was a real trooper on Wednesday, playing a full 90 minutes for the second time in four days.
The Croatia international had an excellent match. He pressed high up the field, made some sneaky passes and opened the scoring with a well-taken tap-in six minutes before the break.
He showed some surprising footwork in this game, nutmegging a defender along the sideline late in the first half before getting wiped out by Patric and then did the same in the buildup to Dybala's second, putting Khedira in position to square it to his strike partner.
Between Mandzukic, Dybala and Morata, all of Juve's strikers are in top form going into the season's final weeks, making the prospect of a second straight double all the more likely.
Loser: Felipe Anderson
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For someone who has constantly been connected to big-money moves over the last two seasons, Felipe Anderson has a nasty habit of coming up completely dry in big games.
The Brazilian was an absolute non-factor at the Juventus Stadium. According to WhoScored.com, he registered only 37 touches in his 52 minutes on the field and didn't even take a shot.
Pulled off shortly after Patric's red card as Simone Inzaghi shuffled his lineup to cover, Anderson has rarely shown a tendency toward playing well in big moments, and his underwhelming season has been a microcosm of Lazio's hugely disappointing year.
Winner: Federico Marchetti
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Lazio has lost by this kind of margin against Juventus a few times over the last couple seasons, and Marchetti generally hasn't acquitted himself well. Not only that, those games have tended to break him mentally for a few weeks after.
This time, though, the former Italy international was the best thing about his team.
Apart from the aforementioned sparkling saves against Dybala, he also beat Paul Pogba in a one-on-one situation—although the Frenchman really should have done better—and flew to save the midfielder's 14th-minute free kick. He even guessed right on Dybala's penalty but was beaten by both pace and placement. A neat denial of Simone Zaza in the closing stages kept the scoreline from moving into the embarrassing.
Marchetti's performance kept his team in the game for a lot longer than they would have been otherwise. Without him, Juve would've been up 3-0 within 25 minutes. For once, he can walk out of the Juventus Stadium with his head held high.
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