In one of the big games left on the 26th day of Serie A 2020-21, Juventus hosted Lazio at home. The great news of the local team happened with the return of Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, the absence of several duels due to injury and the replacement of Cristiano Ronaldo.
To the surprise of many, things started very badly for Andrea Pirlo’s. After 14 minutes, following yet another great corner, Dejan Kulusevski knocked the ball to the limit of Joaquín Correa’s reach, who just couldn’t put it in the net.
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The team from the Italian capital came out completely enthusiastic and sometimes canceled Juve. In this sense, the goal actions continued from the hands of Luis Alberto and Sergej Milinković-Savić, both from a distance from the middle.
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Pirlo was completely lost, he did not know what order to give and this was reflected in his group. Split games, zero generation, low passing efficiency … All bad.
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So much so that Juventus ‘first clear shot came after half an hour of play (32’), when Aaron Ramsey tried his luck with an extreme right hand that passed near the rival goal.
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Little by little, although very late, the owner of the house tilted the land in his favor until he won a prize. In the 39th minute, Álvaro Morata received in three quarters of the field, returned and sent a deep pass to Rabiot. The Frenchman gained speed on the left and when everyone thought he would send a cross into the area, he unleashed a powerful shot with his left foot that dug into the nearby goal of goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Great.
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And in the last part of the first half, Mohamed Salim Fares was about to offer the visitors the advantage again with a shot with the left foot that almost slipped in the goal of Wojciech Szczęsny.
As it happened at the beginning of the game, Lazio had the clearest. Luis Alberto made a bid to take the lead as a ball coming in on the right hand side left Milinković-Savić completely alone with keeper, who made a spectacular block. The ball crashed into the crossbar.
Pirlo reacted quickly, but the difference is that they were completely strong at the hands of Morata. In the 57th minute, Federico Chiesa stole a ball from the opponent’s exit and sent a deep pass that the Spanish striker did not waste.
And two minutes later, the former Real Madrid signed his double from the penalty spot, after a controversial violation of Milinković-Savić on Ramsey.
With the mission accomplished, at least so far, the Juventine team has exchanged chips. At 69 ‘Juan Guillermo Cuadrado retired, from a remarkable party, the great figure, Morata and Ramsey; in their place were Weston McKennie, Arthur and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The next important approach was to visit, it took almost 25 minutes to generate danger again. Taking advantage of a CR7 loss, Ciro Inmobile landed with his right hand close to the post, but Szczęsny saved it. Later, Correa tried unsuccessfully. There was no way to get the discount.
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In the 81st minute, Ecuador’s Felipe Caicedo came on. With this, coach Inzaghi sought to join the attack with the pair of South Americans who managed to shine at that time.
The party, practically condemned, fell into emotions. Juventus used quick counterattacks to generate scoring actions, while Lazio did everything they could with more heart than football. In the end, everything would be in an important bianconera victory with 3-1 in the return of Juan Guillermo Cuadrado.