Post by Salem6 on Mar 15, 2009 12:34:25 GMT
Serie A Week 28 - 14/3/09 (19.30 UK)
Juventus 4 - 1 Bologna
Mutarelli 24 (B), Salihamidzic 48 (J), Giovinco 71 (J), Del Piero 75, 87 (J)
Stadio Olimpico
Sebastian Giovinco inspired Juventus to a wonderful comeback to beat Bologna 4-1 with Alex Del Piero and Hasan Salihamidzic also on target.
The Bianconeri had to focus on catching Inter after their midweek Champions League elimination, but had to do without Amauri, David Trezeguet, Mauro Camoranesi, Cristiano Zanetti, Marco Marchionni, Momo Sissoko, Pavel Nedved, Nicola Legrottaglie, Alex Manninger and Dario Knezevic. Bologna missed Cesar, Moras and Massimo Marazzina, but had top scorer Marco Di Vaio facing his former club.
The Rossoblu's last win here was October 5 1980, followed by 10 defeats and four draws.
Claudio Terzi did just enough to anticipate Vincenzo Iaquinta twice - on Alex Del Piero's knockdown and a Hasan Salihamidzic cross. Gianluigi Buffon smothered a fierce Sergio Volpi free kick and Di Vaio couldn't get enough power to hs header.
Salihamidzic just failed to make contact with Sebastian Giovinco's cross to the back post.
Bologna took a surprise lead after 24 minutes. Massimo Mutarelli sprung the offside trap to find himself one-on-one with Buffon and kept his cool to slide the ball past him. The chance was created by an inspired Di Vaio slide-rule pass.
Giovinco was Juve's most impressive player and moments later he hit the crossbar directly from the corner flag.
Giorgio Chiellini got an accidental knock to the face and was bleeding copiously from his nose and lip. He was able to continue after several minutes of treatment.
Salihamidzic's header from a Giovinco free kick was deflected over, then Giovinco's control and snapshot from the edge of the box stung Francesco Antonioli's palms.
Giovinco was sweeping crosses in continually and one found Del Piero unmarked at the near post, but the captain misjudged it and turned it wide with a combination of head and shoulder.
Giovinco's shot was charged down and Del Piero curled a free kick over the bar as Bologna were pinned back into their own half.
Juventus came out fighting for the second half and introduced Christian Poulsen for Tiago Mendes. Within three minutes they had equalised, as Giovinco's corner found a brilliant Salihamidzic header at the near post that flashed across Antonioli.
Del Piero scuffed his volley on yet another Giovinco assist. The Atomic Ant blazed past defenders to get a through ball and his angled drive was beaten away by the goalkeeper.
Another Del Piero volley, this time from Claudio Marchisio's cross, forced Antonioli into a desperate point-blank reaction save. Yet Bologna nearly restored their advantage against the run of play, as a corner found Di Vaio and only Buffon's alert response batted it away from six yards.
Del Piero's effort from a Giovinco free kick was charged down, then it came back to Giovinco and an Olof Mellberg backheel flick was straight at Antonioli. Chiellini failed to make the most of a chipped Salihamidzic pass and in the move got another knock to his nose, which started bleeding again.
Giovinco's free kick was nodded on to the bar by Del Piero with the aid of a fingertip save on 64 minutes in this very intense second half. Yet Di Vaio failed to get his head to a cross by a matter of inches.
Less than 20 seconds later, Juventus took the lead with their undoubted Man of the Match Giovinco. Iaquinta trapped a long Marchisio cross and instead of going for goal wisely cut back for Giovinco. The Under-21 international scuffed his shot, but still managed to swerve it towards the far post.
Juventus made it 3-1 thanks to their captain Del Piero. It was a classic counter-attack and Alex ran on to a Salihamidzic through ball, cut back to send Terzi to the ground and swept past the goalkeeper from seven yards.
Bologna weren't going to let this go and introduced former Fiorentina striker Daniel Pablo Osvaldo, who has been out for several weeks with a thigh strain. He forced the Bianconeri defence into a very tricky clearance for a corner, but Britos pulled up with a suspected groin strain and limped off when all three substitutions had been completed. The Rossoblu played the final 15 minutes with 10 men.
Iaquinta curled an audacious effort over the bar from the D, but Del Piero completed his brace late on. The captain peeled off his marker to spring the offside trap and although Antonioli performed a stunning save on the first effort, he could do nothing about the follow-up.
Del Piero would have had a hat-trick, but his shot from distance cracked the left upright and bounced back out. Claudio Ranieri gave Del Piero and Giovinco standing ovations with late substitutions for youth team debutants Ayub Daud and Ciro Immobile.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Juventus: Buffon; Grygera, Mellberg, Chiellini, Molinaro; Salihamidzic, Marchisio, Tiago (Poulsen 46), Giovinco (Daud 88); Iaquinta, Del Piero (Immobile 90)
Bologna: Antonioli; Zenoni, Britos, Terzi, Lanna; Bombardini (Osvaldo 74), Mutarelli (Amoroso 52), Volpi, Mudingayi, Valiani (Adailton 61); Di Vaio
Ref: Damato
www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/sa0809/juv-bol.html