Juventus got back to business in Serie A with an astounding 6-1 thrashing of Pescara at Stadio Adriatico on Saturday, with Fabio Quagliarella bagging a hat-trick.
Their unbeaten leage run may have been ended at 49 games at the hands of Inter one week ago, but the Bianconeri showed no signs of letting that affect them with a scintillating performance that featured six goals of the highest quality.
Artuo Vidal broke the deadlock after nine minutes with a well-struck finish, before Quagliarella made it 2-0 with an equally clinical strike from inside the area on 22 minutes. Pescara threatened to make a game of it when Emmanuel Cascione halved the deficit with his head three minutes later, but an acrobatic overhead kick from Kwadwo Asamoah on the half hour mark.
Giovinco volleyed home a fourth Juventus goal after combining superbly with Quaglierella, who himself struck his second deadly finish just before half-time, and added the goal of the game with a magnificent volley straight from a corner early in the second half.
The Bianconeri now move four points clear at the top of the table over nearest challengers Inter, who are in action Sunday away to Atalanta.
Quagliarella was the only change from Juve's 4-0 win over FC Nordsjaelland in the Champions League during the week, the veteran striker replacing Alessandro Matri in the starting lineup.
The visitors raced out of the blocks, and Giovinco forced the first opportunity of the game, calling Mattia Perin into action with a drive from the edge of the area after only two minutes.
The diminutive midfielder would be far more decisive in the ninth minute, however, as he threaded a fine pass through to Vidal, who slotted coolly past Perin to send the visitors into a deserved lead.
Juve continued to dominate and scored again in the 22nd minute. Mauricio Isla was the architect, sending in a fantastic ball that was met with a sublime finish from Quagliarella inside the box.
Just when it looked like the visitors were ready to run away with the match, however, Pescara pulled one back. After Juan Quintero smacked a free kick agonisingly off the woodwork, the ball was worked towards Matti Lund Nielsen, who crossed for Cascione to angle a header past Gianluigi Buffon.
Pescara were buoyed by the goal, but their enthusiasm was short-lived, as a flick from Quagliarella ricocheted into the path of Asamoah eight yards out, and the Ghanaian reacted wonderfully to send an overhead kick into the back of the net.
Quagliarella then sent two good opportunities badly off target, before Cascione nearly repeated the trick with another header towards the far post that flew just wide.
However, with seven minutes to go until half-time, Juve stormed further ahead. Giovinco linked up brilliantly with Quagliarella, playing a one-two and lashing a superb volley past the hapless Perin.
The scoring wasn’t done for the first half, and Quagliarella, who was outstanding all game, latched onto a magnificent long pass from Vidal to drive another clinical finish home on the stroke of the interval.
Quagliarella would complete his hat-trick eight minutes into the second half, meeting Pirlo’s corner with a gloriously acrobatic volley to rack up the Bianconeri’s sixth and final goal.
The tempo died down shortly after, though Giovinco went close to his second with 11 minutes remaining after a beautiful shimmy freed him for a shot at the edge of the box that was sent just off target, moments after hitting the side netting after rounding Perin following a one-two with Nicklas Bendtner.
There were no more goals to come, but the damage had been done in the first half, and Juve played out the remaining minutes in complete control to record an emphatic victory that puts events against Inter last week firmly in the rear-view mirrow.
Source: Goal
| --> | --> |
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Have your say and leave a comment here! Thank you!