Everything like before. Juventus rejects the attack from the Capital and consolidates its leadership in the standings with a very convincing victory, perhaps the best of the whole season. Inzaghi's Lazio melts like snow in the sun while Spalletti's Roma, who never hoped for help from their cousins like this time, do their duty against Cagliari but are forced to postpone their dreams of glory until the next matches.
The big winner on Sunday is certainly Massimiliano Allegri: criticized (rightly) after Florence, the coach responded with a courageous and innovative formation, and who knows if he has found a way to definitively turn the season around. The 4-2-3-1 with which he faced Lazio (Pjanic, Cuadrado, Mandzukic, Dybala and Higuain all on the pitch) is the most European you can see, with technical quality dominating just like the top clubs most renowned.
Of course, to make it work, sacrifice and determination are needed on everyone's part, ingredients that were seen yesterday from the first minute. And in fact Juve unlocked the game after just 5 'with Dybala, splendid in coordinating from outside the area and killing Marchetti with an unstoppable left foot, and found the double in the 17th minute with Higuain, sniper in capitalizing on a cross from Cuadrado.
Match channeled in less than 20' and result unchanged only because of the many wasted opportunities, perhaps the only drawback in an ultra-positive day. The spirit of sacrifice of everyone, especially Mandzukic, should also be underlined, almost moving in running back and forth on the left wing like any follower.
“The idea came to me on Wednesday morning as soon as I woke up – said Allegri – I told myself that after Florence it was right to change something and the boys responded with a great performance. Now we need to improve mentally, if we want to do well in the Champions League too we need to be a little more cheeky and unscrupulous".
For a Juve that is looking for more lightness, there is a Roma that has become increasingly cynical, so much so that they remember the leaders. The third consecutive 1-0 victory came against Cagliari, an almost unbelievable figure for a team that was always accused of making a lot of smoke and little fire. But here there is more and more meat on the fire, so much so that today it seems that the Giallorossi are the only ones who can really contend with Juve for the Scudetto.
It took 55' of suffering to break Cagliari's resistance, in which the legs seemed less brilliant than usual, as did the inspiration of the most popular men. Then Dzeko took the chair with a goal from a very pure center forward, even if the doubt remains of a foul on Ceppitelli at the start of the action. From then on, Rome was at ease and many wasted opportunities: this was the only vice that Spalletti was unable to eradicate, but the Giallorossi metamorphosis was already one of the important ones.
“We weren't very brilliant but it was important to win and we did it – commented the coach – We have to look at ourselves, play to win all the games and then settle the accounts at the end. Juve are very strong but we want to demonstrate that we are equipped to really try, then we'll see where we're at."
