Juventus winger Federico Bernardeschi on Tuesday ended a 43-match goal drought in Serie A to cap a routine 2-0 win over struggling Cagliari, which lifted the Turin club to fifth in the table.
The Italy winger drilled a shot into the far corner in the 83rd minute to celebrate his first league goal since July 26 last year, a run of 513 days.
It came after Moise Kean headed home the opener in the first half to set Juventus on course for a victory that extends second-bottom Cagliari’s winless league run to 11 matches.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Old Lady climbed into fifth place on 34 points, registering in the process their fourth clean sheet in the past five league outings.
After a two-week winter break, Juventus face league clashes with SSC Napoli, AS Roma and AC Milan in January, before facing Atalanta BC on Feb. 12.
“It is fun when you get to these moments in the season. We have done well in the last few games, but January is an important month,” Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri told DAZN.
“I would be happy to get to the end of February with this distance from the teams at the top, because between now and then we have to play all the top teams,” Allegri said. “Then they will face each other and we will have a better fixture schedule.”
Kean started in the absence of injured top-scorer Paulo Dybala and provided Juventus’ greatest threat in the first half, thumping a header off the post from a Juan Cuadrado cross after 10 minutes.
The 21-year-old made the breakthrough when a Bernardeschi shot was deflected into his path and he reacted quickly to head the ball back across the goal and beyond Cagliari goalkeeper Alessio Cragno.
Cagliari threatened after the break and saw two big chances go begging, as Dalbert skewed a finish wide from 6m before Joao Pedro’s powerful header was palmed over by Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
The visitors were made to pay for their profligacy when Bernardeschi fired home in the 83rd minute.
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Even after scoring a hat-trick for Arsenal, Eddie Nketiah was momentarily upstaged on Tuesday by another academy graduate, although it is not often that a teenager scores on his debut. Eleven minutes after coming off the bench, Charlie Patino completed a 5-1 victory over Sunderland to send Arsenal into the semi-finals of the EFL Cup.
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