A late goal gave Juventus Turin a 1-0 win over AC Florence on Saturday night The Bianconeri struggled immensely for over an hour – then a sending-off played into their hands.
The game picked up in the closing stages. Suddenly there was a lot going on, penalty area scenes, scoring chances, a sending off, a shot off the crossbar, an offside goal. Juve built up pressure, Juve wanted to win the game against Fiorentina – and Juve won the game with a goal in injury time.
For a good hour, the Bianconeri had played rather wait-and-see. After the recent defeats against Sassuolo and Hellas Verona, coach Massimiliano Allegri’s team was already under pressure before the game, but this was only visible in phases. A shot by Dybala was the only goal-scoring opportunity Juve created in the entire first half (10th). Florence pressed hard and were at least equal, but Juve’s goalkeeper Perin did not have to intervene too often.
After the change of ends, Morata (50th) and Rabiot (55th) fired first shots, but the game only gained momentum in the last 20 minutes. Then it went from strength to strength: Milenkovic was shown a yellow card for a repeated foul (73rd), then Chiesa hit the crossbar with a great shot (76th) before Morata’s goal was disallowed for offside (81st).
Cuadrado hits a hook – then the goal falls
As ponderous as Juve had played for a long time, Allegri’s team showed a thrilling performance. In injury time, a joker broke the spell: Cuadrado left Biraghi in the penalty area with a hook and shot from an acute angle – the ball hit the short corner and gave Juve the victory after all (90.+1).
The Cup winners thus caught up with Florence on points and now stand with 18 points after twelve matchdays.
