Fiorentina 0-3 Juventus
Few expected the Serie A leaders to fall in the beautiful city of Florence. However, I don’t think many expected such a showing from Juventus.
The Bianconeri dominated from the first minute until the last as they outplayed a daring and physical Fiorentina team to the tune of 0-3. Cristiano Ronaldo is all smiles as his debut season in the Italian top flight has been nothing but wins and goals thus far.
Highlights of the game
There was little to no doubt that Juventus were favoured to win this match-up. As discussed by prior Fiorentina vs Juventus predictions, the quality of players the Old Lady has in comparison to the rest of the Italian top flight is something that cannot be easily ignored.
Juventus started the game with a dangerous XI that immediately made their impact known in the game. While Fiorentina had their chances with Edimilson Fernandes and Federico Chiesa early in the match, the Juve backline didn’t have much trouble in preventing them from having clear shots at goal.
It was around the 10-minute mark when Juventus began slowly plant their foothold in the game, While the Viola were doing a marvellous job of making things difficult for the hosts with their physical brand of football, Juventus are adamant in ensuring that their buildup will be secure. The club that is planning to forego Christmas celebrations in preparation for a Serie A match absorbed whatever Fiorentina threw their way and redirected it to their half of the pitch.
There was a bit of a commotion in the 25th minute when the BIanconeri asked for a penalty and the referee checked the VAR for verification. The fans at the Stadio Artemio Franchi held their breath as Daniele Orsato checked with the VAR officials, and they breathed a sigh of relief when the referee signalled that no penalty was to be awarded.
The stadium soon got quiet when the defence finally cracked under continuous Juventus pressure. A quick one-two between Paulo Dybala and Rodrigo Bentancur saw the midfielder inside the box without a purple shirt up in his face. He then fired a low-driven shot to the bottom-right corner that flew past Alban Lafont. The Juventus section of the stadium cheered, and Massimiliano Allegri was happy that they finally got the first goal going.
It was from that point on that Juventus began to dominate the remainder of the match’s first frame. Both Dybala and Ronaldo had opportunities to double the lead in the half’s dying embers, but the Fiorentina defence did everything they could to prevent the lead from ballooning exponentially.
I’m sure Stefano Pioli did some talking to motivate his team and keep the score close, but I think even he knew that coming out as 2-1 winners against a club as complete as the Bianconeri is close to impossible to achieve.
Regardless of what people thought, the hosts started the reset swinging. Marco Benassi tried to open the half with an equaliser in the 48th minute, but his shot went narrowly wide of the left post. They kept their physical play going as they won corners and opportunities to equalise.
Unfortunately, they were unable to break the Juventus defence as the quality of the defence was just too much. Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini have been more than fantastic in securing the Juventus backline.
In fact, Chiellini was the man who secured the three points for Juventus in the 69th minute. Juventus started a goalmouth scramble that ended with the 34-year-old holding the football. He fired a powerful shot towards the goal that was blocked by Lafont. Fortunately, the ball ballooned towards the back of the goal to give them the 0-2 advantage.
Ten minutes later, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the final goal of the match. Fernandes committed a handball in the Fiorentina box, forcing the referee to point to the spot. Ronaldo, the supposedly Ballon d’Or runner-up, stepped up to the plate and converted the penalty with a precise effort to the top-left corner.
The supporters of the Viola would have probably wanted a result similar to their loss to Lazio if they were to even lose the match. However, the sheer amount of quality the Bianconeri have on the pitch was just too much for them to handle.
Key statistics
This match was a very physical affair as Fiorentina tried to bully their way into getting the football. Referee Daniele Orsato called Fiorentina out for 14 committed fouls while he warned Juve for their eight infractions. He also took out the yellow card plenty of times as six Fiorentina players and three Juventus players got booked in 90 minutes.
Fiorentina made the most of their chances as seven of their 12 goal attempts were on target. However, Wojciech Szczesny was superb in between the sticks for Juve as he saved every single shot. Meanwhile, Juve took nine shots, six of those being on target.
What’s next?
The Viola will be hoping for better things when they travel to Sassuolo for their second match in the month of December. After the Sassuolo game, they will play Empoli at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.
Meanwhile, Juventus have quite an interesting schedule ahead of them. They will play Inter Milan in what could be an all-important six-pointer, and that game will be followed by a trip to Young Boys for their last match in the Champions League group stage.
The SBOBET tips are definitely in favour of the Bianconeri, but we’ll never know what happens until the game actually starts. Until then, keep your eyes on this space for more Serie A 2018 highlights and news.
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