SPICE – Juventus won 4-1 when they visited Spezia in the sixth giornata of the 2020-2021 Italian League. Cristiano Ronaldo, who returned to the field after suffering Covid-19, performed brilliantly by scoring two goals.
The course of the match
First round:
Juventus immediately tried to play an attacking game as soon as the match started. Having possession of the ball, Andrea Pirlo’s squad locked up Spezia’s defense and looked for scoring opportunities. However, Álvaro Morata’s effort in the sixth minute still failed.
Juve’s efforts finally paid off in the 14th minute. Danilo gave Weston McKennie the deep pass, who ran into Spezia’s penalty area.
Rather than kicking the ball directly into the net, McKennie prefers to give a short pass to Álvaro Morata, who is free to his left. Without great difficulties, Morata turned these opportunities into goals. Juve leads 1-0.
Five minutes later, Juve had another golden opportunity. This time, Federico Chiesa only had to face the Spezia goalkeeper after receiving Morata’s pass. Unfortunately, Chiesa’s kick was still slightly off the left of the host’s goal.
In the 23rd minute, Morata made a solo run, dribbling from midfield to Spezia’s penalty area and scoring. However, this goal was disallowed because Morata was already in an offside position when he hit the ball in the middle of the field.
Spezia then leveled 1-1 in the 32nd minute. Paolo Bartolomei gave Tommaso Pobega a short pass in the middle of the box. The AC Milan loan player was immediately greeted with a horizontal kick that landed in Gianluigi Buffon’s goal.
At the end of the first half, Juve had a chance thanks to McKennie, who was offered sweet bait by Morata. However, the American player’s kick was still blocked. In the end, the first part ended with a score of 1-1.
Second round:
Going into the second half, Spezia tried to hit the gas. They undoubtedly invaded the Juve defense and applied various pressures. Sadly, nothing resulted in a goal, including a long-range shot from Bartolomei in the 52nd minute.
In the 56th minute, Juventus entered Cristiano Ronaldo to replace Paulo Dybala. This is Ronaldo’s first match since testing positive for Covid-19 on October 13, 2020.
The result was immediately apparent, three minutes later Ronaldo scored to give Juve a 2-1 lead. CR7 received the forward bait from Morata and immediately ran into Spezia’s penalty area. Ronaldo had time to nibble on Spezia goalkeeper Ivan Provedel before putting the ball into the net.
Juve further away when the game entered the 68th minute. The reason is that Adrien Rabiot scored a goal for the Bianconeri to change the score to 3-1. Rabiot managed to overtake Spezia’s defender and then fired a shot into Provedel’s goal.
Ronaldo scored his second goal in this game in the 74th minute. The Portuguese captain successfully executed a penalty that Juve scored on a goal after Federico Chiesa was violated in the prohibited area. Even more impressive, the goal was scored with a shot from Panenka. The 4-1 score lasted until the game ended.
The composition of players:
Spice: Ivan Provedel; Salvador Ferrer, Claudio Terzi, Julian Chabot, Simone Bastoni; Paolo Bartolomei, Matteo Ricci, Tommaso Pobega; Daniele Verde, M’Bala Nzola, Diego Farias.
Proposal: Titas Krapikas, Nahuel Esteves, Lucien Agoume, Emmanuel Gyasi, Luca Mora, Luca Vignali, Alessandro Deiola, Cristian Dell’Orco, Simone Bastoni, Rafael, Kevin Agudelo, Roberto Piccoli.
Juventus: Gianluigi Buffon; Juan Cuadrado, Merih Demiral, Leonardo Bonucci, Danilo; Weston McKennie, Arthur, Rodrigo Bentancur; Paulo Dybala, Álvaro Morata, Federico Chiesa.
Proposal: Carlo Pinsoglio, Manolo Portanova, Wojciech Szczesny, Gianluca Frabotta, Dejan Kulusevski, Adrien Rabiot, Cristiano Ronaldo, Federico Bernardeschi, Aaron Ramsey.
