Juventus closed the gap on Inter at the top of Serie A to four points on Saturday after a thrilling 5-2 win against Atalanta in Bergamo.
Mauro Camoranesi scored twice in as many minutes to give the Bianconeri a 2-0 lead at halftime. Valdes reduced the deficit early in the second half, but a Felipe Melo scorcher restored the two-goal advantage four minutes later. Fabio Ceravolo set up a grandstand finish on 71 minutes, but late goals from Diego and David Trezeguet, with his record-equaling 167th for the club, left the scoreline looking slightly harsh for a valiant Atalanta.
Despite the five goals and three other efforts ruled out, Juventus coach Ciro Ferrara praised his team’s defensive performance.
PHOTO: AFP
“This is the spirit I want Juve to play with,” Ferrara said. “We are playing a different system at the moment with playmakers, but we also have to work hard. Those at the front are the first that have to defend, so we don’t get left one-on-one at the back. We’ve only lost one in five now and we are getting better at playing without the ball — a sign of a great side. We’re working on confidence and obviously this result will help us a lot.”
Hoping to banish memories of their last outing in Serie A — a 3-2 loss to Napoli — Juventus began in positive fashion on a difficult, rain-drenched surface.
Camoranesi, scorer of the Champions League winner in midweek against Maccabi Haifa, set his sights on 10 minutes with a scuffed shot that was turned around the post by a diving Andrea Consigli.
After Trezeguet had a header ruled out for offside, Atalanta almost snatched the lead on 33 minutes when Cristiano Doni turned sharply 12m out, but could only flash his shot wide.
The chance seemed to spark Juventus into action. Fabio Grosso turned and crossed for Camoranesi to bury a header at the near post to give Juve the lead on 36 minutes. The two combined a minute later, when Grosso’s center, this time from the left, cleared straight to Camoranesi and the Argentina-born player picked the same spot perfectly from the edge of the area to double the lead.
Stunned temporarily, Atalanta responded five minutes into the second half when Tiberio Guarente threaded a delightful ball to Valdes, whose shot found its way past Gianluigi Buffon to cut the deficit.
Juve hit back immediately. Within four minutes, Christian Poulsen and Felipe Melo had goals disallowed for offside, before the Brazilian picked up the ball on 55 minutes and arrowed in an unstoppable strike from 25m.
The home side kept battling. On 70 minutes, Valdes turned Caceres on the edge of the box and bent a shot just wide of the angle. A minute later, Fabio Ceravolo practiced the same trick on Grosso on the right, this time finding the net with a curling left-foot shot to reduce the deficit to 3-2.
Atalanta pushed for the equalizer, but they were caught twice in the last six minutes as first Diego collected a Camoranesi center to stab expertly home, then Trezeguet fired home a fifth from close range to make it 5-2.
In Saturday’s early game, Napoli were held to a goalless draw at Catania, leaving the Azzurri in sixth position in Serie A. Catania, who had the better chances in a dull game, remain one off the bottom.
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