Juventus took advantage of Atalanta’s goalless draw in Genoa with a 2-0 victory over Cagliari that brought them one step closer to Serie A Champions League places, as Salernitana’s trip to Udinese became the first victim linked to the coronavirus of the season. Moise Kean’s header five minutes before the break and Federico Bernardeschi’s precision after a late breakaway at the Allianz Stadium put Juve four points behind the fourth place in the Italian top flight, currently occupied by Atalanta.
A fourth win in five matches means Massimiliano Allegri’s side end 2021 on a high, but it was another in a long run of disappointing performances from the old lady of Italian football, who sits in fifth place nine points behind. league leader Inter Milan ahead of their home clash with Turin on Wednesday.
After the winter break they face a real test of their ambitions for the season, with matches against Napoli, Roma, AC Milan and Atalanta in mid-February.
“If we come to the end of February with the same gap between us and the top four places as now, I’ll be happy,” Allegri told DAZN.
“You can’t win all your games with your direct rivals, so from that point on they will have to go head to head while we have a simpler schedule.
Juve were missing Paulo Dybala and Federico Chiesa in attack and rarely clicked forward, while a struggling away team may wonder what could have been a better finish.
Twice in the second half, Cagliari, who are in the midst of a full-fledged crisis after failing to secure a league win since mid-October, failed to put aside chances to be cut the breath after a botched defense of the hosts.
Under fire from the Cagliari coach, Walter Mazzarri could not believe his eyes when, completely alone at the hour mark by the perfect cross from Raoul Bellanova, Dalbert somehow moved away from the goal with the goal at his mercy.
And eight minutes later, Joao Pedro, just about the only brilliant sport for the Sardinian side this season with his nine Serie A goals, headed straight for Wojciech Szczesny at close range.
Bernardeschi’s first Serie A goal since July 2020 belatedly doomed second-from-the-bottom Cagliari to their third rebound loss, albeit less humiliating than the two previous 4-0 blows.
COVID FRAPPE SALERNITANE
They are one point away from Genoa, who missed a single shot on target as they held a curiously out of shape Atalanta side now winless in three and sweating the fitness of forward Duvan Zapata after the Colombian limped in the first half at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium.
The biggest news of the day came earlier in Udinese, as the game against Salernitana officially unfolded despite health officials in Salerno asking the opposing team not to leave for northeast Italy .
The match was eventually abandoned 45 minutes after the official kick-off time of 6.30 p.m. local time (5.30 p.m. GMT), with the Udinese players remaining in the changing rooms of the Dacia Arena knowing their opponent was not going to be. to present.
Ahead of the game, Udinese’s Pierpaolo Marino expressed his displeasure that Salernitana failed to show up due to two cases in the squad when just over a year ago his club had sent a team to Lazio despite seven players and former coach Luca Gotti being released with Covid infections.
However, Salernitana’s sporting director Angelo Fabiani did not move, saying the club had arranged a charter flight for those who tested negative but were contacted by health authorities, who banned the entire team to travel because they had to isolate themselves as contact cases.
“If the authorities forbid us to travel, what are we supposed to do? », Asked Fabiani.
Salernitana is now awaiting the decision of the football authorities on the result and whether the match will be rescheduled.
However, the Italian FA chief said on Tuesday they would be kicked out of Serie A if a buyer for the club is not found by December 31, as they belong to Lazio chief Claudio Lotito and several clubs from the same division. is not authorized.
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