Empoli-Juve 4-1: brace from Caputo and goals from Luperto, Chiesa and Piccoli

With their heads weighed down by Thursday’s elimination in the Europa League semi-final and by the 10-point penalty announced tonight, a handful of minutes from the kick-off, Juventus goes down against Castellani (4-1) and in two hours moves from second to seventh place in the standings. A terrible blow for Allegri and all the Juventus people who will have to beat Milan on Sunday to feed their remaining Euro-chance. Possible? The only way is to offer a different service from that in Tuscany where the Lady is fragile, fearful and inconclusive. Faced with a satiated Empoli thanks to early salvation, it was reasonable to expect an angry Juve due to the double “hit” dealt by Sevilla and the Federal Court of Appeal. Instead, within three minutes, Alex Sandro and his companions melt under the blows of Caputo and Luperto. reactions? Zero or almost. Worse than that…

Double Empoli

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Zanetti, back from 7 points in the last 3 games, does not have Baldanzi, in the Under 20 World Cup, and Caputo lines up forward with Akpa Akpro, Fazzini (under pressure on Locatelli) and Cambiaghi behind him. Allegri, without the suspended Danilo and Cuadrado and the injured Fagioli, De Sciglio and Pogba, responds with the double center forward (Vlahovic and Milik) plus Barbieri, in his second season as starter, in the right lane. The Bianconeri’s departure is encouraging and the tactical plan seems right: serving as many balls as possible to his forwards to put pressure on the Empoli rearguard. Barbieri is eager and running, but the greatest opportunity for the Lady comes from a cross from Gatti: the Serbian and the Pole don’t have the right conviction to beat Vicario who, a few minutes later, also saves from Kostic’s diagonal. The guests’ advantage seems to be in the air and instead, after a goal rightly disallowed by Gatti due to a foul by Bremer on Vicario (previously the crossbar hit by Milik; seventeenth wood in Serie A), it was Empoli who scored twice in the span of three minutes. First it was Caputo who converted a penalty awarded for a foul by Milik on Cambiaghi (18′), then it was Luperto who put in the ball after a clearance by Szczesny following a close touch by Akpa Akpro (21′). Juventus is down. Rabiot tries to play the charge with a left foot from outside that almost misses the mirror, but the sensations are not comforting. In the middle Locatelli and Miretti always arrive late, Bremer is “dancing” behind, Barbieri is always caught in the middle by Parisi and Cambiaghi, while Vlahovic is stopped in recovery by a great exit from Vicario.

Max changes

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At the start of the second half, Allegri tries to shake things up with Chiesa and Paredes in place of Barbieri and Miretti. Juventus becomes super offensive traction (3-3-4 in the possession phase) because Chiesa remains very tall and Kostic is no less: the former viola presents himself with a great cross and as the action develops, Vlahovic kicks very badly . The unbalanced Lady lends her side to Empoli and a turnover from Alex Sandro on Akpa Akpro is enough to close the match: cross for Caputo, touch below by the center forward and brace for the 3-0. The match is virtually over and the Tuscans come close to poker with Ebuehi and then with Fazzini. Allegri plays all out with Kean for Milik, Di Maria for Locatelli and Rugani instead of a confusing Alex Sandro: now there’s nothing left to defend and in fact Juve are even more unbalanced looking for a spark. Kostic unmarks Rabiot at the limit, but the Frenchman finishes high from an excellent position. Zanetti, who does not want to lower the tension level of his players, inserts Haas, Henderson and Pjaca, without however being able to avoid the 3-1 by Chiesa, who finds the goal in the league more than 500 days after the last time. There are five minutes to go, but Allegri’s men, instead of trying the last assault, also cash in on Piccoli’s 4-1. It’s late at night for Madame.