Juve-Venice 2-2, Vlahovic scores the equalizer with a penalty

Venezia dresses like Manchester City – chromatically – and very nearly gives Juventus their first defeat of the championship. Unpredictable, unexpected, comeback. But it would also have been deserved for the reviewable management of the lead by Thiago Motta’s men. Federico Gatti scored the opener and then had a hand in Idzes’ goal to make it 1-2, while in the middle Mikael Ellertsson scored the equalizer with a header. What saved the Bianconeri in the 94th minute was, in fact, Antonio Candela’s handball, which sent Dusan Vlahovic to the spot for the final 2-2.

THE CATS PAW

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After the 2-0 win against Manchester City, Timothy Weah and Weston McKennie deserve the starting shirt, while on the bench behind assistant coach Alexandre Hugeux we see Nico Gonzalez again, back available after an absence of over 70 days. Eusebio di Francesco instead changes three men compared to the 2-2 draw against Como, between defense and midfield, in search of a feat that can soften the only point obtained in the previous five championship days. The mission requested by the suspended Thiago Motta to replicate the same hungry attitude of the Champions League night can be seen in the very first balls, even if obviously Venezia leaves less of the field than the English and therefore the “good old” challenge of the defenses soon arises again for the Bianconeri closed to be unhinged. Dusan Vlahovic immediately seems eager to repeat himself at the Allianz Stadium: he worries the defenders, urges his teammates to press collectively, looks for the opportunity. In the 19th minute, right from a corner won by the Serbian, it was Khephren Thuram who rose from the tower and extended his header to the far post for Gatti’s goal. The 1-0 is only the second Juventus goal from a set piece this season, a failure that was starting to cause concern in the pre-Christmas report.

BLESSED CROSS

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If the opening goal is usually the game-opening event in these cases, on the half-hour the real dangerous opportunity belonged to Venezia, with Joel Pohjanpalo freeing Magnus Andersen with a header on the edge of the area: a powerful conclusion from Danish and chipped crossbar, symbol of a team that has no intention of falling despite the obvious difficulties. Di Francesco replaces Michael Svoboda due to injury, replacing him with Giorgio Altare, while the Juventus defense wobbles more than once after the danger is averted: the first half in general has nothing vibrant compared to European emotions, but in general the hosts create little after the lead and gave too much ball possession to the Venetians, who thus gained confidence as the minutes passed. Playing with fire is never worth it.

ABOVE

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Returning to the field for the second half, the Bianconeri incredibly replicated the 1-0 goal in the 49th minute: Teun Koopmeiners took the corner, Thuram headed the ball home and this time Kenan Yildiz headed the ball home to the far post . Celebration, tongue sticking out and then everyone stopped: the goal was spoiled by a touch from the Turk and therefore no encore. Motta certainly had the opportunity to send motivating phrases to the Juventus locker rooms during the interval, because – without frenzy, mind you – the team showed a much more creative attitude and came close to the top corner with a long-range shot from Thuram. What still doesn’t work, however, is the holding behind, but this time the damage is real: following a nice combination with a ball on the ground Francesco Zampano crosses from the right and at the far post Ellertsson clearly anticipates Nicolò Savona and strikes Michele Di Gregorio with a header, who fumbles without clearing the ball enough. Everything has to be done again for Motta’s boys, therefore, and the operation restarts with Francisco Conceiçao and Douglas Luiz in place of Weah and Koopmeiners. The Brazilian, in particular, only needed a minute to make himself seen, when with a very fine touch he freed Vlahovic in depth: Filip Stankovic had to resort to a backstroke to avoid the 2-1 on Jay Idzes’ accidental deflection. In the 83rd minute, however, the one who was unable to dodge the friendly fire was Di Gregorio, who on a free kick from the midfield by Hans Nicolussi Caviglia was punctured by Gatti, who burst out and found the corner. The Allianz Stadium blows the whistle, Hugeux removes two defenders to avoid the fool and Douglas Luiz comes close to the top corner with a bicycle kick. When everything seems ready for the Venetian omelette, in full injury time the ball ends up on Candela’s hand in the away area: penalty, Vlahovic displaces Stankovic with attributes and the unbeaten record – at least that – is saved. But Juventus, with the small teams, remains small.