Juventus enjoyed a comfortable midweek encounter with Bologna, maintaining their perfect start to the season by logging their seventh consecutive win of 2018/19. The fact that the Rossoblu had managed a stunning upset victory over AS Roma had no effect on the Turin giants, who barely got out of first gear as they strolled to a 2-0 triumph.
It was exactly the kind of performance that underscored why the Bianconeri have managed to win seven league titles in a row, steamrollering an opponent who had unsettled one of Serie A’s other contenders just a few days earlier. Where Roma laboured and looked lost, Max Allegri – even with Sami Khedira, Mattia De Sciglio, and Leonardo Spinazzola injured – managed to rest a number of key players yet still oversee a confident performance.
With Douglas Costa suspended, the Juve boss still left Wojciech Szczesny, Giorgio Chiellini and Mario Mandzukic on the sidelines, but it mattered little. The Old Lady dominated from the outset, scoring both goals within the first 16 minutes and enjoying an incredible 76.9% possession over the entire game.
In short, it was the perfect warm up for this weekend’s main event, Napoli returning to a ground where they recorded a milestone victory last term. The Partenopei may have come up short in the title race, but their performance in the 1-0 win at Juventus Stadium stunned their hosts who – outside of that one match – have not lost to a domestic opponent since November 2017!
Yet Napoli did win, and deservedly so, with goal scorer Kalidou Koulibaly admitting that his side will return to the city seeking a repeat performance. “It was an unforgettable night in Turin, and we’re back there to pick up points, even though it’ll be a very difficult game,” the defender told Radio Kiss Kiss recently. “We must stay focused and be careful so we don’t concede a goal. I’m sure we can go home with the three points.”
It will be a formidable task, but after a faltering start to the new campaign, Napoli are rounding into the kind of form that allows them to imagine it as a possibility once again. Following a loss to Sampdoria in Week Three, Carlo Ancelotti’s men have recorded wins over Torino, Parma and an impressive-looking Fiorentina thanks to a slight shift in formation.
A new-look 4-4-2 has pushed Lorenzo Insigne into a central role and the diminutive Italian has shone there, already registering five goals and one assist in just six league games. That he managed to find the back of the net just eight times in 37 appearances last term underlines how deadly he has been, but the Juve boss insists it is his opposite number who is truly making the difference.
“Top of the table encounters are always complicated,” Allegri warned reporters at his post-Bologna press conference on Wednesday night. “Ancelotti has this great serenity which he transmits to the team. They’re the foremost rival for Juve so it’s a head-to-head match, but there are still many wins missing.”
While they opted for a return to 3-5-2 versus Bologna, Juve are fully expected to revert to the 4-3-3 system they have used all season. However, Wednesday night did help Paulo Dybala grab his first goal of the campaign, volleying home after a miss from Blaise Matuidi. Being deployed in a more central role seemed to bring the best from the young Argentina international, and he believes his understanding with the club’s record signing is beginning to blossom just at the right time.
“Hopefully the goal can give me back the confidence I had before,” Dybala told DAZN shortly after the final whistle. “I worked really hard to put in a performance like that. It’s natural that when a player’s performances dip, the fans expect more.
“The rapport with Cristiano Ronaldo is improving with training and games played together, we have a lot of enthusiasm and try to set him up for goals, but I try to play for the whole team and it doesn’t matter who scores as long as we win.”
Trying to set up Ronaldo has – as this previous post explained – resulted in Juve looking out of sorts, but against Bologna they delivered a much-improved display rather than repeatedly forcing the ball to CR7. Subsequently, they broke down their opponents much more easily and the Portuguese star will still undoubtedly grab more than his fair share of goals as the season progresses.
Having famously revealed how touched he was to receive a standing ovation at Juventus Stadium while still at Real Madrid, seeing the way Gonzalo Higuain was lauded by Bianconeri supporters for his repeated heroics against Napoli might well inspire Ronaldo to grab the headlines once again on Saturday evening.
Even at this early stage, doing so would strike a huge blow for the Old Lady in the title race, but – after losing to them in April – Juventus will be aware of the danger Napoli will pose.
