A victory, two goals and just as many thrills. Juventus restarts exactly where it left off, that is from a 2-1 which is worth 3 very heavy points. The similarities with the success in Milan, however, end here: two weeks ago the Lady was enchanted, yesterday instead he worked so hard, maybe even too much, to beat Mihajlovic's Bologna. Mind you, the judgment is conditioned by what happened in the final, because otherwise we would be talking about a team in total control, with the only fault of not having rounded up the score on the numerous occasions they had. But since the matches last until the final whistle of the referee, it becomes impossible not to underline the black and white blunders that occurred in the recovery: they could have cost dearly, very dearly…
Juve, on the other hand, either for the interpretation of the Var on De Ligt's arm (certainly involuntary, but from this year, disorderliness is a criterion that comes first), or for the "friendly" crossbar of the Stadium, has managed to reach home a victory built earlier, of those who then, at the end of the year, they can be the difference between a first and a second place. “In the last five minutes we have made two or three errors of almost presumption and superficiality – Sarri's analysis. – The matches must be attacked until they are completely safe and in the second half there was every margin to do so. It was a good match marred by three or four blunders that gave the sensation of superficiality, we must have a dribble of substance and not an end in itself".
Separate ending (to be reported, in addition to the two episodes already described above, one Buffon's super save on Santander, who had hit the crossbar a few moments before), Juve had managed the match quite well, sinning only in cynicism in front of goal. The match was unlocked by the usual Ronaldo, who after receiving from Agnelli the celebratory shirt for his 700 goals in his career, had also given himself the 701st with a very powerful right foot on which Skorupski, to tell the truth, could have done something more (19'). But Bologna, perhaps boosted by the presence of Mihajlovic on the bench (by the way: the applause from the Stadium was horrifying), did not surrender to the role of sacrificial victim and in the 26th minute they equalized with a great goal from Danilo, whose shot, yes, that turned out to be absolutely unstoppable for Buffon.
In the second half, however, Juve took the match, first scoring the 2-1 with Pjanic (54', right-footed fixer after a back and forth in the Bologna area), then wasting a series of chances with Higuain, Ronaldo and Bernardeschi. The finale then turned out to be heart-pounding, but in the end it was the Lady who took all the stakes, thus bringing herself, even if only momentarily, +4 on Inter. An important victory also for Napoli, who smiled again thanks to the 2-0 win over Verona. The 3 points, in addition to shortening Atalanta third, serve to restore some serenity to an environment that is anything but satisfied, even if after yesterday, perhaps, things can go back to the right direction. A signal, in this sense, can come precisely from the San Paolo scoreboard, which crowned Milik as man of the match.
The Pole, highly criticized in recent weeks for too many missed goals, scored twice, giving Ancelotti a finally relaxed weekend. “Important result for cleaning the environment from some waste – the comment of the blue coach. – We played against a physical team and we suffered a bit in the first half, then managed well in the second half. You can play better, but this is a game of maturity, we showed good solidity. Ibra? His compliments are nice, I'll call him soon… ”. While waiting for news from the market, San Paolo is enjoying very positive signals, also because Verona, as always, proved to be a much tougher nut to crack than the final result suggests.
In fact, if Meret kept a clean sheet, he owes it to himself (the triple save on Lazovic, Pessina and Stepinski in the 18th minute was splendid) and to some inaccuracies by Hellas in front of goal, certainly not to a yawning evening. From the waist up, however, Napoli has confirmed all its quality, even on the day Ancelotti left out Mertens, Llorente and Zielinski. The irreplaceable Fabian Ruiz, on the other hand, was there and the assist for Milik's first goal came from his foot, very cold in anticipating the defender and beating Silvestri (37 '). From then on, the Azzurri melted away and when the Pole, in the 67th minute, repeated himself with another paw from him, it was understood that the 3 points were now a done deal. Now the head will go to the Champions League, for a round that could prove to be almost decisive for both Sarri and Ancelotti. And both of them, after the smiles of this Saturday, have no intention of stopping.
