Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata scored for Juventus in their comfortable win over relegation-threatened Salernitana. Elsewhere, Dusan Vlahovic scored in Fiorentina’s win over Sampdoria.
A terrible start to the season has left Juventus mid-table, looking up to their rivals. The Old Lady languishes in seventh place, some eleven points off the top of the table – a gap reduced only by a 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Salernitana on Tuesday night.
Against I Granata, Dybala – now the leading man for the Bianconeri – and Dejan Kulusevski tested the waters with early shots from distance. Then, in the 21st minute, the two combined to give Juve the lead; Dybala played a give-and-go with the Swede at the edge of the box before blasting home a shot past Vid Belec in goal.
Minutes later, Giorgio Chiellini thought he had put his team 2-0 up, but his goal, which came after Juan Cuadrado’s strike was turned onto the woodwork by Belec, was scored from an offside position – and was correctly ruled out.
Juventus nearly conceded a goal, minutes before the clock marked an hour played. The ball traveled all the way to Luca Ranieri, arriving at the far post, but his shot came off the inside of the far-sided upright, and the Old Lady survived. Ten minutes later, Morata secured the points, coming off the bench, as he flicked a Federico Bernardeschi cross past Vid Belec at his near post.
Elsewhere, Fiorentina – with a perfectly balanced record of seven wins and seven losses from 14 games – took on Sampdoria, and surrendered an early goal to Manolo Gabbiadini. However, Jose Callejon scored in the 23rd minute with a trademark run and finish at the far post to restore parity.
Nine minutes later, the league’s top scorer Vlahovic headed a Giacomo Bonaventura cross past Emil Audero to give La Viola the lead. And the Fiorentini were cruising by half-time, thanks to Riccardo Sottil, who, moments before the end of the first half, had tapped the ball home from close range. Chances fell to both sides in the second half, but Vincenzo Italiano’s men held onto their advantage to see out the win and ruin their perfectly balanced record.
Fiorentina are up to sixth in the table after their latest success, level on points with Juventus in seventh and one behind Roma in fifth.
