November 07, (THEWILL) – Juan Cuadrado scored a thrilling stoppage time winner against old club Fiorentina, giving Juventus only their fifth win of the season in the Serie A.
It was far from a vintage performance, with too many of their star players remaining quiet for long stretches of the game in Turin. Over the course of the game, Massimiliano Allegri’s team failed to create enough meaningful chances, with only three shots on target.
Yet, it must be on Allegri’s mind that Juve were not put to the test defensively in any way that could have affected the result as their lack of cohesion in the backline was mirrored by their lack of creativity going forward.
When Nikola Milenkovic was shown a second yellow card and sent off for a reckless challenge on Federico Chiesa late in the second half, the Old Lady was given a wonderful opportunity to finally break through.
After that, the winger, who had been largely inactive, sprung to life. He then hit the crossbar, while Juve had the ball in the net in the closing 10 minutes when Alvaro Morata converted a cross from Cuadrado. However, it was ruled out for offside.
Cuadrado, who only played for a little more than 10 minutes, gave Juve a boost in attack. When he finally scored in the 91st minute, he did so entirely on his own, moving the ball to the right side of the penalty area and firing a low effort across the goal from a narrow angle.
That was his 40th Serie A goal, half of which came while playing for Fiorentina.
The return of international fixtures in November brings a stay to club football. Upon resumption, Juventus travel to Lazio on the 20th, while Fiorentina host Milan.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
