Juventus vs. AS Roma: Winners and Losers from Serie A
Juventus made it 11 wins in a row in Serie A with a late 1-0 win over AS Roma on Sunday night at Juventus Stadium in Turin, Italy.
Despite Juve dominating the first half, there weren't too many moments of danger for Roma to deal with. Arguably the best chance of the half fell to Roma's Alessandro Florenzi, who skied an effort from an angle.
Paulo Dybala struck the bar at the other end but was offside in the buildup anyway. The first half ended goalless. In the second half, both teams were less aggressive than in the first half. Both teams also lacked in clear chances—until Paul Pogba freed Dybala in the box with 10 minutes to go to score the only goal of the night.
Here are all the winners and losers from the match.
Winner: Paulo Dybala
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Paulo Dybala was the best player on the pitch in the first half, and he was the match-winner in the second half.
Dybala showed invention, vision, a quality first touch and an ability to move to break down Roma's defence in the first 45 minutes, buzzing across the front line and dipping out to receive possession in space.
The forward showed a real moment of quality to take down a high ball and lob the goalkeeper, even though he was denied by an offside flag and a crossbar. But there was no stopping him when he scored a left-footed shot late in the match.
He had a superb performance again.
Loser: Alessandro Florenzi
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Italy's national team starting winger at the Euros in all likelihood will be Alessandro Florenzi. He was picked in a wing-back role as his manager switched to a 3-5-2.
It seems a role well-suited to Florenzi's strengths, but precious few of them were seen in this game; defensively he was caught on the inside several times by an ageing (and ultimately wasteful) Patrice Evra, gave possession away at the back and didn't do enough to keep the back line tight when under sustained pressure.
In attack, he missed Roma's best chance with a swiped effort off target, and his delivery toward the front two was non-existent. To compound things, Florenzi was subbed off, possibly injured after a fall, in stoppage time.
Winner: Giorgio Chiellini
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A total rock at the back for Juventus, Giorgio Chiellini had a very straightforward match to ensure his goalkeeper had next to nothing to do.
Flanked by the returning Andrea Barzagli, Chiellini was extremely aggressive in making sure he reached the ball first whenever Roma pumped it forward in the second half. Chiellini defended in uncompromising fashion, leaving his team-mates at the back on cover duty—all in a simple evening's work.
Chiellini was strong, timed his runs out of the back three well and at times passed intelligently into midfield.
Losers: Mohamed Salah and Edin Dzeko
4 of 5
Chiellini playing well aside, neither of Roma's front duo should be happy with their own work.
After an early run or two, Mohamed Salah disappeared entirely from the match and was utterly anonymous in the second half, while Edin Dzeko was bossed aerially and never once threatened Gigi Buffon in goal for Juve.
Neither forward have scored in the last eight games for Roma—Salah is actually nine without a goal—and certainly didn't look to have the understanding between them or the individual quality to get anywhere near to troubling Juventus on this occasion.
Winner/Loser: Luciano Spalletti
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There are mixed feelings for new Roma boss Luciano Spalletti, so we'll award him both winner and loser tags.
Three points from 57 vs. Juventus, per BT Sport's live coverage, shows his historical inability to get a result against Serie A's biggest modern club. This occasion proved no different by full time—but for a long stretch of the game, his 3-5-2 setup kept Juve at bay. The midfield also worked hard, and the defence was aggressive.
Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny didn't have huge amounts of shots raining down on him, and it was a moment of brilliant play from two top talents which eventually opened Roma up. So there is certainly hope going forward into the second half of the season.
That said, Roma's winless streak is now four games in the league, and they've taken just one win from 12 in all competitions. So there is much work ahead for the former the Zenit boss.
