Despite receiving 15 points for capital gains offences, Juventus still have a chance to qualify for Europe next season. The team, led by Massimiliano Allegri, won four consecutive matches and was seven points behind Atalanta Bergamo, who secured a place in the European League, before facing Roma. Roma struggled to get back to their winning ways after an embarrassing 2-1 defeat at Cremonese.
Roma beats Juventus in a blow. Poor match for Nikola Zalewski
Jose Mourinho was originally scheduled to miss the bench against Juventus due to a red card and a clash with referee Marco Serra against Cremonese. A two-match suspension was postponed in the face of the prosecutor’s actions (the referee allegedly provoked Mourinho during the match – ed.), so Mourinho managed to lead his team in the matchday strike. Massimiliano Allegri also called for this in the pre-match press conference.
The first half wasn’t very attractive to watch. Juventus saw their best form towards the end of the half as Adrien Rabiot tried to beat Rui Patricio from close range. In the case of Roma, Paulo Dybala was closest to the goal, while his shot from outside the penalty area was easily saved by Wojciech Szczucny. Besides, the Polish goalkeeper was out of work. Nicola Zalewski was more focused on defensive duties and was a secondary player for Roma. Obviously, he was losing competition to Philip Kostic.
Zalovsky struggled with a situation with the Serb shortly after the start of the second half. Roma took the lead in the 54th minute as Juventus left plenty of space for Gianluca Mancini outside the box. Then the Italian hit a straight lift and flat shot victory over Wojciech Szczesny. Roma could have quickly extended their lead, but Bremer stopped Leonardo Spinazzola. Juventus tried to equalize quickly, but Juan Cuadrado hit the post with a free kick. Zalewski was able to give oxygen to his rivals a few minutes later when he headed straight for Dusan Vlahovic. Fortunately, without consequences. Finally, the pole fell after 64 minutes.
Juventus tried to get at least a point, only through Angel Di Maria’s shots. Gianluca Mancini almost scored an own goal in one situation. Paul Pogba tried to lead Juventus. In the end, Roma reached the final whistle. Moise Kean, who came on in the 89th minute, dealt an additional blow to Alturian, and after 41 seconds he saw a red card after kicking Gianluca Mancini. Massimiliano Allegri didn’t know what to say. Juventus tried to score in the last match, but Danilo fired straight at Rui Patricio.
Thanks to its victory over Juventus, Roma remains in the Champions League qualifiers, occupies fourth place and has 47 points after 25 matches, which is the same balance as Milan, who are in fifth place. Juventus dropped to eighth, just behind Bologna, and are now 12 points off their Champions League spot.