May 07, (THEWILL) – After conceding two late goals in a 2-1 loss to relegation-threatened Genoa, Juventus squandered the chance to rise into third position in Serie A on Friday.
In the early exchanges, Moise Kean met a beautiful cross from Paulo Dybala, but his header skimmed the very top of the Genoa bar, as Juventus’ first chance of the game went begging.
For all of the first half, Genoa kept Juve at bay, creating a series of set-piece opportunities, the best of which fell to Mattia Destro, whose free header soared over.
Salvatore Sirigu pushed a low cross from Kean away from goal before failing to make the most of Adrien Rabiot’s deep delivery into the opposition box.
Just before the two teams went into the half-time break tied, Dybala’s speculative shot from 25 yards rolled directly into Sirigu’s grasp.
When a low cross pierced the Juve backline, Destro inexplicably shot over from point-blank range only 30 seconds into the second half, but Dybala broke the deadlock moments later with a stunning right-footed effort from just beyond the Genoa box.
Wojciech Szczesny had to be alert to deny Morten Frendrup after substitute Caleb Ekuban smashed a ferocious shot across the face of his goal.
Dybala hit the post with a curling effort from range for Juventus, while Adrien Rabiot’s cutback for Kean saw Sirigu make a superb save to deny the Everton loanee.
Dusan Vlahovic nearly doubled Juve’s advantage after fighting off a slew of Genoa players as he dribbled his way past the 18-yard box, but Sirigu came to the hosts’ rescue once more.
After a beautiful dink over the experienced goalkeeper, Kean had the ball in the net, but the flag had been raised for an evident offside, and he shot over again after a dummy from Alvaro Morata left him through on goal.
Just as Szczesny was about to make a costly mistake on one end, Marley Ake was fouled by Albert Gudmundsson on the other. The spot kick was overturned after a VAR review determined that the Icelandic attacker had reached the ball first.
And Gudmundsson went from zero to hero with a five-minute equaliser. The 24-year-first old’s Serie A goal came when Nadiem Amiri’s pass between Daniele Rugani and Mattia De Sciglio rolled perfectly into his path.
When Rabiot granted the hosts possession, Genoa should have gone up, but Szczesny denied Amiri on this occasion.
With stoppage time approaching, Kean missed yet another golden opportunity to win, blazing wide when one-on-one with Sirigu following a selfless move by Morata.
Genoa were granted a last-gasp penalty when De Sciglio pinched Kelvin Yeboah’s ankles to take the drama further. Domenico Criscito stepped up and kept his cool to beat Szczesny and possibly save Genoa’s season.
Massimiliano Allegri’s side, who have already secured a place in the Champions League for next season, are now battling with Napoli for the symbolic bronze medal. The loss means they miss out on the chance to leapfrog Luciano Spalletti’s Naples side.
At the other end of the pitch meanwhile, at this point of the season where there are only two games remaining, Genoa is one point from safety and these massive three points were crucial to that points-gain.
About the Author
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.
