Four goals not seen since the end of October, Dusan Vlahovic’s goal and the passage to the next round: Juve establishes peace with the Stadium and gives a Christmas gift to its fans in the last home match before the holidays. The Bianconeri beat Cagliari 4-0 and reach the quarter-finals, where they will face Empoli in February. Now the objective is to rearrange the situation in the championship on Sunday in Monza.
Thiago Motta tries to make a turnover despite the absences, a new Juve emerges: Locatelli and McKennie play in defense with the workaholic Savona and Kalulu, Koopmeiners is lowered to the midfield with Thuram and Yildiz has the responsibility of playing as a true 10, with Conceicao and Mbangula on the outside. Vlahovic is still in attack, his first face-to-face meeting with the fans after last Saturday’s ‘bad incident’ after Venice. The Serbian had already extended his hand with a conciliatory message on social media, the fans responded with a banner that smacks of peace made: “An isolated gesture does not erase the past, you have always been respected by us. Juventus, DV9 and ultras united until the end” the banner unrolled outside the Stadium.
For Nicola it is almost a derby, given his past at Toro first as a footballer and then as a coach, and he chooses a careful 4-4-1-1 with Gaetano supporting Lapadula. Yet it is precisely Cagliari who sends a signal of battle, with Di Gregorio forced to make a super save with his feet on the Peruvian’s close-range shot after less than a minute. Thiago Motta’s team started quietly, then shook themselves in the second half of the first half: Vlahovic missed the target, Yildiz’s acrobatics with a sure shot was blocked by Wieteska and Conceicao’s left-footed shot grazed the post to the right of Scuffet. In the 36th minute, however, the Portuguese found the target but also an excellent clearance from the goalkeeper. The pressure increases, Vlahovic takes care of breaking the deadlock in the 44th minute with a weak but precise left-footed shot. The striker celebrates right under the curve with which he argued a few days earlier, the Stadium explodes and shouts his name along with the speaker. The second half opens with the same 22, the Bianconeri close it immediately: with a perfect free kick, Koopmeiners scores his first goal at home and the double which is worth the guarantee of qualification. Vlahovic makes it three with a nice lob but it is disallowed for offside, then Thiago removes the Dutchman to insert Gatti and while Nicola inserts Felici for Marin. In the last 25′ there is space for Nico Gonzalez who can thus increase his playing time, while between the brace and Vlahovic comes first another offside and then an error by the Serbian face to face with Scuffet.
Thus, Conceicao takes care of the 3-0 with the house specialty, a more left-handed dribble to return. The Portuguese and Vlahovic received a standing ovation in the Stadium, in the final it was Nico Gonzalez who fired up the fans with a Totti-style lob for the poker. “We want you like this” is the chorus that rises from the Curva Sud, it is peace made between Juve and its fans. Now the Bianconeri’s path still appears easy with the meeting with the Tuscans of Empoli in the quarter-finals, while Cagliari will be able to dedicate themselves totally to the mission of salvation.
Morocco
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