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First match as manager, first win: Andrea Pirlo made a successful debut at the start of Serie A. Against Sampdoria Genoa, Juventus won 3-0 (1-0). Dejan Kulusevski scored the first goal in the 13th minute. The 20-year-old Swede moved from Parma Calcio to Turin in the summer for just under € 40 million. Leonardo Bonucci increased in the 78th minute, before Cristiano Ronaldo made it 3-0 in the 88th minute.
Pirlo doesn’t want to be reduced to his charisma alone, tactically he had also thought a lot for his debut. His team started at the unusual 3-5-2, which surprisingly included reserve defender Gianluca Frabotta and ex-Schalke Weston McKennie. In a system with many position changes, midfielder Aaron Ramsey acted as a liaison with the first two, Ronaldo and Kulusevski.
The two also played a decisive role in the opening goal: Ronaldo got stuck in the right corner of the penalty area, from him the ball reached his attacking partner, who carefully pushed him into the far corner. Before that, Ronaldo had already missed a chance (11th minute), in the 24th minute he hit the crossbar and ten minutes later a shot from the Portuguese just passed to the right. Nothing from the guest team could be seen in the first half.
That should change in the second half. After a triple change by coach Claudio Ranieri, Sampdoria moved to more offensive actions. Federico Bonazzoli missed twice in the 52nd minute. The Sampdoria around captain Albin Ekdal, who played for Hamburger SV between 2015 and 2018, was now able to make the game more balanced. In the 70th minute, the hosts came to a conclusion: substitute Mattia De Sciglio narrowly missed the right post with a deflected shot.
The decision was made in the 78th minute: After a standard situation, the strong McKennie missed for the first time before Bonucci scored from close range at 2-0. Then McKennie (85th) on the one hand and Fabio Quagliarella (87th) on the other hand, before Ronaldo scored his goal: his 3-0 (88th) was also the final score.
Juventus will continue in Rome next Sunday night, Sampdoria will host Benevento the day before.
