Juventus shades off the league woes to eased past Spezia 3-0 as Alvaro Morata, Federico Bernardeschi and Cristiano Ronaldo netted
Juventus struggled to clear-cut chances in the first half but the introductions of Federico Bernardeschi and Alvaro Morata paid off. The pair combined for the opener, Bernardeschi first touch set up Morata goals, which stands after a lengthy VAR review.
Twenty minutes to go, Bernardeschi also set up Federico Chiesa. Chiesa fired and acrobatically shot from the re-bounce after Spezia goalkeeper Ivan Provedel his initial shot.
Despite Ronaldo’s first-half disappointments, he finished a late counter-attack. The Serie A top scorer round off the scoring for Juventus to mark a 600th European goal and set another record.
Among those who stole the show for Juventus’s 3-0 win against Spezia is goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Szczesny kept a clean sheet with a stoppage-time stunning penalty save against Spezia substitute Andrey Galabinov after Emmanuel Gyasi.
Bianconeri are third in Serie A, with Inter Milan seven points ahead and second-place AC Milan three.
“These were three important points,” Morata said.
“We want to stick to our will to win. There are still many points available and we have a game in hand,” Morata added.
“I have had three weeks without much strength (due to the flu) but we all must be ready and available as we have many absentees,” he concluded.
Ronaldo has entered the record book after the last-minute goal takes his tally to 600 European goals.
Meanwhile, the Lazio game against Torino was postponed due to a coronavirus outbreak at the Turin club. Its fate on whether they will hit Torino with a 3-0 defeat is in the hands of Lega Serie A.
Lazio sporting director Igli Tare said, “We respected the rules and we came to the stadium. Now we will wait 45 minutes, then we will leave everything in the hands of the competent bodies.”
“Would I have preferred to play? Absolutely yes.”
“I just have to respect the rules of the Lega,” he said. “We know how things stand. We are here and this is the only thing that matters,” Tare added.