Juventus 2-1 Sampdoria
This year’s Serie A has been in the hands of Juventus for quite some time now, but there have been instances where the Bianconeri almost gave up some control of the league. After all, not all teams can afford to stay at the top forever, and Juventus would eventually have to make way for a club to become number one.
In the meantime, the Italian top flight can do nothing but watch as Cristiano Ronaldo helps Juventus through another tough fixture against Sampdoria. The Portuguese star helped the Turin giants stop Marco Giampaolo’s daring Blucerchiati from giving them their first defeat of the season.
It’s becoming more and more clear to the rest of the league just how important the 33-year-old forward has become for Juventus. This fact may expose their weaknesses, but Ronaldo’s impact on the pitch — seen on his already-respectable Serie A 2018 highlights package — might just be too much for them to handle.
Join us as we take a dive on what happened in this game and what we can take away from it.
Highlights of the game
The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is named to the starting lineup is a direct reaction to the way the league leaders conducted themselves against Atalanta last time out. Ronaldo, who was supposed to rest in that game, had to put on his scoring boots to help Juventus scrape by Atalanta with a point.
Their performance may have forced Massimiliano Allegri to field Cristiano in for the 12-point cushion between themselves and second-place chasers Napoli. Seeing Ronaldo in the left wing may have put a dent on Giampaolo’s plans, but the visitors probably had a plan for him in place.
Unfortunately for them, it seemed like Ronaldo outgunned Sampdoria’s countermeasures to strike the first goal within ten minutes of the match. CR7 got a lofted pass on the edge of the danger zone in the second minute. He managed to somewhat break free from his marker and whipped in a beautiful shot that flew past Emil Audero and into the bottom-right corner.
From that minute on, it seemed like the Old Lady are now on their way to collecting the three points. However, a costly error on the part of the Juventus defence has forced an undesirable situation for the league leaders.
Sampdoria took a corner in the 28th minute, and Albin Ekdal headed the ball towards the goal. The Juventus backline managed to clear the ball, but the ball hit Emra Can’s arm before it was swatted away. The referee reviewed the VAR footage and awarded a penalty to Sampdoria.
Fabio Quagliarella, Sampdoria’s answer to Ronaldo, stepped up to the plate. He outwitted Mattia Perin by sending him sideways while he shot the ball to the middle. With this goal, the game’s momentum swung back to the middle. The first half ended in a tie, as predicted by our top punter.
The second half got even more intense as Juventus did everything they can to avoid another draw. Blaise Matuidi almost had a chance to put the Old Lady ahead when he fired a powerful shot from the edge of the box. However, Audero was able to get his hands on the ball and swat it away.
However, the infraction that earned Blucerchiati their goal was also the root cause of their defeat. The VAR revealed that the ball hit Alex Ferrari’s arm. Obviously, it was Ronaldo who took the shot. He cheekily recreated Quagliarella’s spot-kick to ice the game.
There was a bit of late drama when Riccardo Saponara seemingly scored an equaliser at the game’s death. VAR, unfortunately, spoiled the visitors’ fun as the referee disallowed the goal due to an offside violation.
Many Juventus fans at the game breathed with a sigh of relief that they can end 2018 on a positive note. After all, they have tough fixtures awaiting their team in 2018.
Key statistics
While the Serie A 2018 odds on Juventus defending their domestic title have remained untouched, it’s easy to see how important of a player Ronaldo has become to the Turin club.
During the Atalanta game that Ronaldo sat out on in the first half, Juventus had 46% ball possession, had only three of their ten shot attempts on target, and a red card. They bounced back in this game, getting 59% on possession time, making 15 goal attempts with eight on target, and forced six saves from Audero.
Ronaldo definitely made his presence felt in the game, completing two dribbles and making five shot attempts. Meanwhile, Quagliarella was not far behind with his four shots and two won aerials. These two were definitely in their best form.
Moreover, this just shows how incomplete Juventus have become without their star man. If a team in Serie A managed to neutralise Ronaldo, the Old Lady will be losing a lot of their firepower.
What’s next?
There will not be any games in the Italian top flight until mid-January, but their return to regular programming is going to be a thrilling one!
Both sides will be playing in the Coppa Italia on 13th January: Juventus will be visiting Bologna while Sampdoria have an interesting test in Milan. After that, Juventus will play the Rossoneri in the Italian Super Cup before playing Chievo in the league. Meanwhile, Sampdoria will be in Florence to play Fiorentina.
The Serie A may be taking a break, but count on SBOBET to keep on delivering fresh takes and insights on the best football leagues in the world! Keep an eye on this space for more updates.
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