On Saturday on the Allianz Stadium, Juventus ended a winless streak of dwelling Serie A video games towards AC Milan which lasted over 5 years. Having beforehand received such a match in November, 2019, when Paulo Dybala scored the one objective, the Bianconeri lastly beat this specific rival at dwelling once more, this time via quick-succession targets from Samuel Mbagula (59′) and Timothy Weah (64′).
The groups
Juve winger Francisco Conceicao was unable to face his father within the opposition dugout via an unspecified damage. Defenders Gleison Bremer and Juan Cabal, in addition to striker Arkadiusz Milik, all stay out with slightly severe knee issues.
Whereas Weah was initially on the bench, Mbagula was deployed on the left wing from the beginning, as part of the trio together with Kenan Yildiz and Teun Koopmeiners which supported Nico Gonzalez because the striker once more. Manuel Locatelli and Kephren Thuram have been positioned behind that trio, offering safety for the again line consisting of Weston McKennie on the appropriate, Andrea Cambiaso on the left, and the centre-back pairing of Federico Gatti and Milan loanee Pierre Kalulu. The objective was coated by the gloved determine of Michele Di Gregorio.
As for the guests, coach Sergio Conceicao issues aside from probably seeing his son to consider, with Milan’s damage record considerably longer than that of Juventus. He couldn’t name upon defenders Alessandro Florenzi (knee) and Malick Thiaw (thigh), midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek (knock), in addition to forwards Samuel Chukwueze, Christian Pulisic (each thigh), Noah Okafor (calf) and Alvaro Morata (yellow-card accumulation).
With Mike Maignan between the posts, Matteo Gabbia and Fikayo Tomori paired up within the coronary heart of defence, flanked by Theo Hernandez on the left and Emerson Royal on the appropriate. Ismael Bennacer anchored a three-man midfield, consisting of Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders. Rafael Leao and Yunus Musah attacked from the flanks, with Tammy Abraham main the road.
Match recap
Mbagula regarded vigorous from the beginning. He threatened first at both finish of the pitch with a curved long-range effort which flew simply excessive nook within the eighth minute. Juventus pressed on, and 6 minutes later, it was Koopmeiners’ flip to let one fly from distance and miss narrowly.
Milan’s first correct alternative got here within the nineteenth minute, when Reijnders took benefit of a cunningly taken nook to attempt to rating, however the ball couldn’t discover a path via the various our bodies in entrance of Di Gregorio objective. Koopmeiners delivered an ideal cross from a free-kick for Juventus within the twenty first minute, however Gatti’s header went simply large of the goal.
There was a little bit of controversy within the Juventus field six minutes later. A properly performed one-two between Hernandez and Fofana allowed the French left-back to interrupt down the flank, enter the field and put the ball up for Bennacer making his run via the center. Thuram was, nonetheless, chasing the Milan midfielder, and simply as Bennacer was about to shoot, he slid in. The ball went previous each gamers and Bennacer went to floor, holding his ankle. Referee Davide Massa didn’t appear to be contemplating a penalty in any respect, and the slow-motion footage later revealed there had been no cause for the VAR to ship him to the pitch-side display – Thuram received the ball first, earlier than making slight contact with Bennacer. Milan nonetheless had a number of nice probabilities to attain in that second, however Di Gregorio first made a superb save from Leao, after which Hernandez failed to seek out the again of the online from two makes an attempt.
On the stroke of 35 minutes, Juventus performed out from the again and Gatti broke via the Milan press to take the ball ahead. He handed to Gonzalez via the center and continued his run whereas Gonzalez performed it to Cambiaso right away. Cambiaso’s low diagonal cross from the left went via the field and located Yildiz unmarked on the far put up, and it was Maignan’s flip to supply an important save as he denied the Turkish ahead. Kalulu narrowly missed a header from the following nook.
The final probability of the primary half belonged to Milan, additionally after a nook. Initially half-cleared by Yildiz, the ball was picked up on the left by Leao who whipped it throughout, in search of for Hernandez on the far put up, however Hernandez’s header again throughout in the direction of Abraham contained in the six yards was intercepted by Gatti.
Juve boss Thiago Motta made the primary change of the sport as Weah made his means onto the pitch in the beginning of the second half as an alternative of Yildiz, and there have been good indicators from the USA worldwide right away. Within the 53rd minute, Di Gregorio despatched the ball far up the pitch and Gonzalez received it within the air, releasing Weah in behind. Weah broke into the field and fired powerfully heading in the right direction, and as Maignan saved the rocket and it appeared the Rossoneri would be capable of clear the hazard, they risked an excessive amount of inside their very own field, permitting Koopmeiners to reclaim the ball for Juventus. The Dutch worldwide offered Tomori a dummy and fired, forcing Magnan into one more nice save.
However there was nothing the French goalkeeper might do to save lots of Milan within the 59th minute. Juventus labored up a pleasant group play, involving Koopmeiners, McKennie, Thuram and Gonzalez, earlier than Mbagula’s shot from large picked up a deflection off Emerson and cheated the Rossoneri shot-stopper on its means into the online. 1-0.
Simply 5 minutes later, Thuram picked the ball up in the course of the park and threaded a stunning cross via for Weah, who nonetheless had Tomori to take care of. And take care of the Milan defender he did, earlier than wrong-footing Maignan from round 12 yards. 2-0.
Milan clearly tried to get again into the competition and Conceicao gave substitutes Alejandro Jimenez, Francesco Camarda, Luka Jovic and Filippo Terracciano an opportunity to point out their high quality, however to no avail and the scoreline remained unchanged to the tip.
Vital Juve victory, sore blow for Milan
This match was a great alternative for Milan to realize a robust foothold within the race for the spots main into subsequent season’s Champions League. Had they received, they might’ve closed the hole to Juventus utterly. As it’s, they now sit eighth with 31 factors, trailing Lazio in fourth place by eight, and Bologna and Fiorentina in sixth and seventh, who even have a recreation in hand, by two.
Talking of the Champions League, Conceicao’s group will face La Liga facet Girona on Wednesday, earlier than making an attempt to atone barely for this loss once they host Fifteenth-place Parma on the finish of the week.
In the meantime, Juventus have moved as much as fifth, six forward of Milan and path Lazio by simply two. The Scudetto might be a dream over at this level, with Napoli far forward and solely Inter and Atalanta standing any probability of catching up with Antonio Conte’s facet. However this triumph has clearly given the Bianconeri a major increase within the top-four battle.
Juventus are scheduled to journey to Belgium for an encounter with Membership Brugge subsequent, after which, in contrast to Milan, they’ve a troublesome process to take care of domestically as nicely – a visit to Naples to tackle the Serie A leaders.