Juventus survive late scare, pick up second Serie A Win

Juventus scraped through a 3-2 victory over Sampdoria to register their first home win of the season.

The Bianconeri have had a difficult start to the season and went winless in the first four matches of their campaign.

A change in management, Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure and the resurgence of other Serie A rivals indicated a year in transition for the Turin club.

But, Massimiliano Allegri could not have foreseen such a difficult start to the campaign.

The midweek win over Spazia broke the duck for Juve, but they were far from convincing in the 3-2 win.

They have followed it up with another victory of the same scoreline. However, it was another lacklustre display by the club.

Sampdoria were not in the highest of spirits going into the game since they lost their last game 4-0 to Napoli.

On top of that, they were missing key players like Ronaldo Vieira, Manolo Gabbiadini, Valerio Verre and Mohamed Ihattaren, who is on loan from Juventus.

It seemed to be the perfect opportunity for Juventus to build some momentum and bring their season back on track.

How the game progressed

Early signs were reminiscent of classic Juventus under Allegri.

The home side was dominant in possession and looked threatening every time they surged forward.

It did not take more than 10 minutes for Juventus to find the opening goal of the match.

Manuel Locatelli’s attempt could not get into the net, but Paulo Dybala picked up the scraps and powered a low drive into the bottom near end of the net.

Federico Chiesa came close to doubling the lead, but his shot drifted inches past the post.

Alvaro Morata also came one on one against Emil Audero, but he could not place his shot away from the onrushing goalkeeper.

Dybala hamstring injury

Juventus assumed complete control of the match, but their impetus took a massive hit as Dybala had to leave the pitch with a hamstring strain.

The exact duration of his layoff is yet to be determined, but Allegri has already confirmed that the Champions League tie with Chelsea will come too soon for him.

Dejan Kulusevski, who came in as a substitute for Dybala, had a golden chance to extend the lead. But, he could not make the proper contact with his head to a Juan Cuadrado cross, and the ball went wide of the post.

Juventus could not maintain the high tempo they had until Dybala’s injury, but they unlock the Sampdoria goal for the second time before the interval.

Chiesa’s shot hit Nicolas Murru’s hand in an unnatural position, and Leonardo Bonucci scored from the resulting penalty.

But, Juventus’s joy of a greater lead was short-lived as Maya Yoshida headed past Mattia Perin to stretch Juventus’s clean-sheet-less run to 20 matches.

Juventus increased their lead again as Manuel Locatelli scored his first Juventus goal.

The midfielder found the target after Chiesa did brilliantly to cut the ball back to his path.

Antonio Candreva scored late to make it a nervy finish for the hosts. But, they weathered the late storm and held on to all three points.