Juventus 2-1 Hellas Verona: Ramsey nets on full debut as champions fight back
Juventus returned to winning ways after back-to-back draws in all competitions with a 2-1 comeback win at home to Hellas Verona.
Published : Sep 21, 2019 23:53 IST
Aaron Ramsey marked his full debut with a goal and Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty as Juventus came from behind to beat Hellas Verona 2-1 in Saturday's Serie A clash at the Allianz Stadium.
The Italian champion handed first starts of the season to four players and trailed 1-0 to a fine Miguel Veloso strike before Ramsey got off the mark for his new club.
Ronaldo scored the winner from the penalty spot early in the second half as Juve, which held by Fiorentina last weekend and squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Atletico Madrid in midweek, returned to winning ways in Turin against opponents which finished with 10-men due to Marash Kumbulla's injury-time dismissal.
The victory lifts Juventus to the top of Serie A - albeit with the champion having played a game more than the chasing pack - and it was a particularly special one for Gianluigi Buffon, who equalled Paolo Maldini's record of 902 club appearances with his rare start.
Yet it could have turned out differently for Buffon as Verona were gifted a penalty 19 minutes in when Merih Demiral fouled Samuel Di Carmine inside the box.
Di Carmine slammed the penalty against the foot of the post and Darko Lazovic picked out the crossbar from the follow-up, but the ball was in the net 13 seconds later through Veloso's unstoppable drive into the top-left corner.
Juventus had scored in its previous 12 home league meetings with Verona, however, and it was soon on level terms through Ramsey's deflected shot from 25 yards.
The host moved in front inside four minutes of the second period as Koray Gunter needlessly challenged Juan Cuadrado and Ronaldo thumped the resulting penalty down the middle.
Buffon produced a brilliant stop to deny Lazovic in the final minute, but Verona's hopes of snatching a point were effectively ended when Kumbulla tripped Blaise Matuidi and was shown a second yellow in added time.
What does it mean? Juventus continuing to stutter
Juventus has won three and drawn two of its opening five matches under Maurizio Sarri but it has been far from convincing in those matches.
The ex-Chelsea boss had every right to rotate his squad for this contest, but it appears he is still working out the best players to suit his system.
Ramsey up and running
Having come on as a late substitute against Atletico, Ramsey made his Serie A bow here and showed exactly why Sarri was keen to get him involved.
The box-to-box midfielder marked his full debut with a goal and also highlighted the other side of his game by turning over possession five times during his hour on the pitch - no player did so more often in that time.
Demiral caught out
Demiral impressed for Juventus during pre-season but has been made to wait for his first competitive outing.
He was caught out 19 minutes in when allowing Di Carmine to get the wrong side of him, before panicking and bringing his opponent down for the penalty.
Juventus is a 'team under construction', says coach Sarri Sarri says Juventus is a "team under construction" after its slender 2-1 Serie A win over Verona. It marks a return to winning ways after back-to-back draws in Serie A and the Champions League and Sarri has asked for patience while he assembles the side in his image. "Perhaps there was some mental fatigue because you need to immediately recharge the batteries a couple of days later," he told Sky Sport Italia. "With a lot of changes, you lose some balance, and that's what we saw, as we played in fits and starts. This is a team under construction and you can tell. These players are accustomed to the Champions League and dealing with the fixture list." "We did well to turn around a game that had become very difficult, but we need to improve our possession and our initial approach because we left it open and risked an equaliser at the end." "It takes a long time to drill the defending movements into the team and right now they are not confident enough playing out from the back under pressure." |
What's next?
Juventus travels to Brescia on Tuesday for the first midweek Serie A action of the season and Verona hosts Udinese the same day.