A lone Cristiano Ronaldo goal was enough for Juventus to overcome city rivals Torino 1-0 in the Derby della Mole.
Despite his team finding things difficult against a dogged Torino side, the Bianconeri No.7 bagged his 11th league goal of the season from the penalty spot, and also got Juventus’ 5000th ever Serie A strike.
The result leaves Juventus still unbeaten in domestic football this season, and 11 points clear at the top of Serie A, though Napoli play on Sunday evening, and could close the gap to eight points with a win over Cagliari.
An aggressive start from Torino saw them go straight for Juventus’ jugular, but the final ball was blocked more often than not.
It was Ronaldo though who came closest early on, with a rasping shot from distance going just wide.
Juventus’ dominance didn’t last too long though, as Torino found Andrea Belotti at the back post from a corner and his header back across goal was poked into Mattia Perin, who gathered at the second attempt.
The second half began with a looping Izzo header went just wide, before Belotti struck a vicious effort which Leonardo Bonucci deflected inches over the crossbar.
Things started to move the way of Juventus with Alex Sandro getting in behind the Toro backline, but a vital touch from Salvador Ichazo kept the Bianconeri at bay.
Then a short backpass from Simone Zaza put Ichazo in trouble and Mario Mandzukic managed to get to the ball before the goalkeeper, who then brought him down in the penalty area.
Ronaldo stepped up and powered home to give the away side the lead with 20 minutes left to play.
Moments later Mandzukic had the ball in the net once again, but it was ruled out for offside.
Torino had had the stuffing knocked out of them by this point and rarely threatened again in the match, which now leaves them with just one victory in 41 matches against Juve.
Sloppy and imprecise
Despite the win, Juventus will be disappointed as to how many mistakes in possession and needless errors were made, particularly in the first half. Granted, Torino did play a quick pressing game from the off, but the amount of poor touches, poor decisions and poor passes will certainly be something Allegri will look at as an area for improvement. They will probably get away with it in Serie A, as they did against Torino, but in the Champions League, they will have to be much more on point.
Decisive Ronaldo
He may have started his time in Italy rather slowly, but Ronaldo is in full swing now. Bagging another goal, and another decisive goal to extend Juve’s brilliant start to the Serie A season. He has only failed to score in two of Juve’s last nine matches – Cagliari and Inter – but in the match against he Isolani he bagged an assist. Last season in LaLiga it took the Portuguese 23 league games to break double figures, while in Serie A he managed it in 14. You’d be a fool to bet against him winning the Capocannoniere title and doing better than the 26 goals he scored in LaLiga this season.
Source: forzaitalianfootball.com