Juventus fought back in the battle for Champions League places with a magnificent comeback. At Roma, the Old Lady came back from 0:1 and 1:3 down, even survived a penalty kick and a sending-off and celebrated a 4:3 win against their direct league rivals.
José Mourinho could be absolutely satisfied – not only with his new arrival Maitland-Niles, the Englishman on the right wing, who had only been loaned from Arsenal during the week. Also with the 18-year-old Ghanaian Afena-Gyan and the rest of the team. For the Giallorossi initially dominated the action from the start in the top match against Juventus on this 21st matchday.
The reward for their efforts was included: after a corner kick from the left, Abraham rose highest in the five-metre area and nodded the ball into the right corner from close range for 1:0 (11th minute). The Turin defenders didn’t look too good
And with better chances in this phase, a 2:0 for the Giallorossi would have been possible as well as deserved, especially with standard actions the home side came closer again and again. Defensively, the entire team also stood firm, with the exception of the 18th minute. Here, of all places, when Juve were given space, they promptly scored the 1:1. After strong preparation by Chiesa, Dybala, who was not covered closely enough, was allowed to shoot from the edge of the penalty area. The ball flew cleanly and unstoppably into the left corner, which was to be the deserved score at the break. The two clubs then went toe-to-toe.
Mkhitaryan and Pellegrini put their team in position
But that changed right at the start of the second half, when the AS players got off to the better start again and immediately scored a double: First, the former Dortmund player Mkhitaryan scored with his long-distance shot, which was deflected by de Sciglio, to make it 2:1 (48th), before the Roman-born captain Pellegrini sent a free-kick into the left corner to make it 3:1 (53rd). By the way, all this happened under the eyes of club legend Francesco Totti, who was watching the game live at the Olimpico.
Juventus, who were without the suspended coach Massimiliano Allegri on this evening, could not cope with the double blow, the attack around Dybala looked without the injured Chiesa and against a passionately defending AS defence around Smalling without ideas. Until the 70th minute, when Joker Morata outwitted his opponent Roger Ibanez, crossed cleanly to Locatelli and he scored with an unstoppable header to make it 2:3. The Old Lady’s life had been breathed back into them – and a highly dramatic final phase was about to begin.
Despite penalty and sending-off: Roma let it all slip
And in this one, under the increasingly sobering eyes of coach Mourinho, the home side couldn’t cope at all. First of all, Kulusevski, who had been substituted, managed to make it 3:3 (72.), and a subsequent long VAR-check found McKennie and Morata not offside. But that was not enough: After a cheeky chip by ex-Schalker McKennie and an unfortunate header by Smalling, defender de Sciglio made it 4:3 and turned the game completely upside down (77th).
And because Roma, who were very unsettled, were unable to make use of a penalty kick awarded to them to make it 4:4 – Pellegrini failed to save from Szczesny and also missed a promising shot from the spot (83rd) – the score remained 3:4. Even the lack of ideas in the first half (yellow card for Turin’s de Ligt) did not change anything, so that Juventus, who had not been beaten in seven league games, still managed to get a very important three points in the fight for a Champions League place.
