Juventus Beat Fiorentina Despite Yet Another Error from Giorgio Chiellini

As they prepared to host Fiorentina on Wednesday evening, Juventus knew that each stage of a remarkable treble was slowly coming within touching distance. A Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid looms large on the horizon, with the Coppa Italia final against Lazio to follow later next month.

First came Serie A, however, with the Bianconeri fully aware that they needed just four points to clinch the 2014-15 crown, which would see them add to the hat-trick of titles they had secured in the three previous campaigns. They would eventually take three of those here courtesy of a 3-2 victory, but not without problems, as the Viola and Vincenzo Montella once again proved a difficult opponent for even the very best side.

Massimiliano Allegri had demanded that his players concentrated on the task at hand in his pre-match press conference, discussing the need for patience and urging the squad not to look to the games that lie ahead.

“We have to take things one game at a time, we can’t play them all at once,” the coach told reporters, per the club’s official website. 

“We’re not playing Real Madrid tomorrow or the following day, we meet them on 5 May. We therefore have to prepare for tomorrow night’s match as best we can because it’s definitely harder to work on the back of a loss.”

Yet rather than seeking to put the memory of Sunday’s derby defeat at the hands of Torino behind them, it certainly appeared as though the Bianconeri had other things on their minds, and a lazy tackle from Andrea Pirlo saw Fiorentina earn a penalty with just over 30 minutes played.

Gonzalo Rodriguez would make no mistake from the spot, but Fernando Llorente would equalise just a few minutes later, and Juventus were not done yet. Picking out Carlos Tevez with an excellent cross, Patrice Evra looked on as his former Manchester United team-mate gave La Madama the advantage just before half time.

The goal had something of an air of inevitability about it, the Argentinian’s superb header taking his tally for the season to 27 in all competitions. Yet sadly for the Turin giants, another all too frequent event soon followed, with Giorgio Chiellini conceding a second penalty after he impeded Viola winger Joaquin in the box.

Just a week after the Italian international was fortunate not to be shown a red card for his blatant handball against AS Monaco, this was the latest in a string of errors that have littered Chiellini’s play this term. He was arguably Juve’s poorest player in the first half of the season, a matter discussed at length in this previous column.

With Chiellini continually error-prone, it is perhaps not too far-fetched to suggest Allegri should consider sitting the 30-year-old for a period, particularly now that Andrea Barzagli has fully recovered from his own injury problems. That—allied to the excellent displays of Leonardo Bonucci—offers the coach a distinct alternative should he indeed opt to take Chiellini out of the fray for a few matches.

It would be a bold move to drop the vice-captain, but if Allegri goes with a four-man defence against Real Madrid, a Bonucci-Barzagli pairing would see his two most in-form players take the field. It would remove the opportunities for yet another costly mistake from Chiellini, while there is little doubt the duo could play well together.

Tevez and Josip Ilicic would exchange goals to complete the 3-2 final score, the Bianconeri taking a giant step toward a championship they will likely claim away to Sampdoria this Saturday. There were a number of positives in the match: Llorente’s return to goalscoring form, the play of Claudio Marchisio and the continued brilliance of Carlos Tevez to name just three.

But there was also plenty of food for thought ahead of that clash with the reigning European champions, and it will be interesting to see what decisions are made along the way.