Juventus is officially in crisis, Roma is officially… on the run. The two great pretenders to the championship were the protagonists of the championship advances, with Roma clearing Frosinone's Matusa 2-0, not without difficulty, while the bianconeri did not go beyond a 1-1 draw at home against Chievo .
For Juventus it seemed the right opportunity to return to victory after two defeats in the first two days. In Turin, on the other hand, it was Chievo who took the lead with a great right foot from outside the area by Hetemaj, a goal that stunned Juventus and froze the Stadium. Without Pogba and Cuadrado (both initially on the bench), Juventus showed all their limits, ending the first half between whistles, despite some goal chances that narrowly failed.
In the second half (Marchisio out due to a muscle problem), it was Buffon who saved his team, miraculously deflecting Cesar's effort onto the post, whose goal was also disallowed a few minutes later for a foul on Bonucci. However, it was Cesar himself who committed the naive foul on Cuadrado which allowed Dybala to score the penalty to make it 1-1, a result that certainly cannot satisfy Allegri: "We created a lot – the analysis of the match by the Juventus coach -, in the first half we created 4-5 important goals. In the second half we reacted well, but in a more confusing way. It's a moment like this, between Udinese and Chievo we created a lot and conceded goals. However, there is big room for improvement. You have to be realistic, accept the bad standings and evaluate the team's performance. We were coming from two defeats, we were anxious and in a hurry to score. It takes time, it would have been nice to have 6-7 points in the standings. We have to be in the top three in March, we knew the championship would be tougher this year, and we were a new team. We have to stop talking about those who were there last year, today we have 10 new players. We need to find a certain balance, I can't blame the boys for anything, we're not lucky. Now we have to prepare for the Champions League match in Manchester in the best possible way, carefree".
Even Roma did not shine, but still managed to win in the Lazio derby against Frosinone. One goal in each half (Iago Falque and Iturbe) for the final 2-0 which allows the Giallorossi to spend a night at the top of the standings with 7 points, a good six points ahead of their Juventus rivals: "It was a trap match - he said explained Garcia at the end of the game -, we must congratulate Frosinone, they fought for every ball, with immense heart, if they continue like this they will have an interesting season. The important thing for us was to win and we did it, even if we could have finished the race earlier. We need to improve our ability to frame the goal: in this aspect we were first, now I think we are last".
Garcia then declined to comment on the episode that could have changed the race. or the penalty claimed (rightly) by Frosinone for hand ball by Digne: "The referees decide in half a second, I have already expressed myself in the past on the slow motion". Now head to the Champions League: Barcelona will arrive at the Olimpico on Wednesday, having won 2-1 in Madrid against Atletico Madrid (goals by Neymar and Messi).
In the other advance to the championship, Fiorentina beat Genoa 1-0 thanks to a header by Babacar.
