Juventus defeated Jose Mourinho’s Roma 1-0 in Turin on Sunday night thanks to a solitary Mouse Kean goal in the first half. The win was Juve’s fourth consecutive in the Serie A and left them just one point off their opponents in fourth place.
An overall balanced match ends 1️⃣-0️⃣ 🔥🔚 @juventusfcen conquers 3 points: #Kean scores the winning goal! ⚽⚡#JuveRoma #SerieA💎#WeAreCalcio pic.twitter.com/54x5epxJqo
— Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) October 17, 2021
Roma got off to a good start, dominating the ball and making inroads but it was Juventus who opened the scoring through Kean. Juan Cuadrado switched play to left-back Mattia de Sciglio who swung in a delightful cross for the striker to head into the back of the net.
The goal was almost Juve’s only meaningful attack of the half with Roma continuing as they were before the goal. Mourinho’s side stepped it up as half time approached and Tammy Abraham thought he had pulled his team level but referee Daniele Orsato had already blown the whistle for a foul on Henrikh Mkhitaryan by Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
That's the interval in Turin.
Kean has the hosts ahead, while we also had a penalty saved just before the break.
#ASRoma #JuveRoma pic.twitter.com/jAe5yqto4h— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) October 17, 2021
The call was a highly contentious one as there was no chance given for an advantage to accrue. Things turned worse for Roma as Jordan Veretout’s attempt from the resulting penalty was saved by Szczesny. Roma had a couple of more attempts but Juventus preserved their lead going into the interval.
The second half was on much more even footing with Federico Bernardeschi firing a warning shot for Juventus straight after the restart with an acrobatic overhead kick. Roma came back strongly at Allegri’s men and felt that they should have had another penalty when Chiellini missed his kick and caught Pellegrini.
Pellegrini wants a penalty after a collision with Chiellini, but after a VAR check nothing is given.
54' | 1-0 | #JuveRoma pic.twitter.com/wDPEjp4bOm
— AS Roma English (@ASRomaEN) October 17, 2021
There was some contact but a lengthy VAR check deemed it to be insufficient for a penalty. The men from the capital saw more and more of the ball but were unable to find a breakthrough as Juventus kept another clean sheet in a big match after blackouts against Chelsea and Torino.
Here are our key takeaways from the match –
REDEMPTION FOR SZCZESNY
The Polish goalkeeper has not had a good start to the season, making multiple mistakes in the opening few weeks of the season. Juventus fans must have been sharpening their knives when he gave away the penalty a few minutes before the break.
44’ | ❌ | SAVED! @13SZCZESNY13 DENIES VERETOUT! 🧤#JuveRoma [1-0] #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/IKJFAFhtsz
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 17, 2021
However, Szczesny made an outstanding save from Veretout guessing the right way and getting a strong hand to it. Allegri will be hoping that this marks a turnaround in his season and the Pole can be the bedrock for a title charge for the Old Lady.
ROMA MISSING THE CUTTING EDGE
Roma were arguably the better side over the 90 minutes but for all of their dominance they created few chances. There wasn’t enough service for Abraham and the secondary striking line did not provide sufficient threat on their own.
26': Zaniolo non ce la fa e chiede il cambio.
Al suo posto entra @OfficialEl92 #JuveRoma 1-0 pic.twitter.com/RSbtMlPMhs
— AS Roma (@OfficialASRoma) October 17, 2021
The injury early on to Nicolo Zaniolo did not help but Mourinho will be hoping to add more threat in the wide areas with both his wingers and full backs proving to be rather ineffective going forwards. There are signs of real potential in this Roma side but they still lack some quality to truly challenge for the title.
AN OLD FORMULA
Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini have not played together often this season but Allegri trusted the old centre back pairing to do the business against Roma and the two did not let him down. The Italian pairing shut down every opposing attack with no fuss and looked comfortable for most of the game.
📊 | Chiellini stats vs Roma:
• 100 Touches
• 87.1%➖Passes completed
• 2/3 Aerial duels won
• 4/5 Ground duels won
• 8/13 Accurate long balls
• 1/1 Tackles completed
• 5 Clearances
• 3 Fouls won
• 2 Blocked shotsCapitano! 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/d7RDUUG7rn
— Nisrin (@NisrinJuve) October 17, 2021
Abraham is one of the best strikers in the league but he had an off evening by his standards. Chiellini in particular threw his body on the line multiple times to block dangerous shots. If Juventus are to fight for the challenge then Bonucci and Chiellini will be key, as they have been for so many years.
