Juventus 1-0 AS Roma: 3 takeaways from Allegri’s triumph over Mourinho
A resemblance between Allegri’s first stint at Juventus and his second is gradually becoming transparent. How Juve have ground out results recently reminds us of the old, sturdy Bianconeri that once lifted five Scudetti on the spin under the thorough supervision of the Italian gaffer.
It was anticipated to be a chess match between Massimiliano Allegri and Jose Mourinho at Allianz Stadium on Sunday evening, and to some extent, it certainly tuned out to be one, but with much more brouhaha. In the end, Juventus prevailed as Roma felt the atrocity of the Juve suppression.
FT: Juventus 1-0 Roma.
— Old Juve (@OldjuveFS) October 17, 2021
Another gritty, hardly pretty, victory, but that's four on the bounce in Serie A. It's fair to say the Bianconeri are slowly starting to find their identity again under Max Allegri.#JuveRoma
Courtesy of an unintentional header from Moise Kean that led to the forward enjoying the complete euphoria while celebrating wildly in front of the rekindled Juventini, the hosts managed to beat Mourinho’s team 1-0. Sunday’s result leaves the Old Lady with 14 points from eight games in Serie A, and Le Zebre, having made an appalling start to their domestic campaign, are now edging closer to entering the European spots in the points table.
En route to winning the 37th Serie A title this season, the victory, albeit not totally convincing, was much-needed for the Bianconeri. Following a game that had more than one turning point, we have come up with three key takeaways from Juve’s narrow victory over a fellow calcio heavyweight.
The redemption
Juventus’ victory on Sunday epitomised two sets of redemption for the Bianconeri custodian. Wojciech Szczęsny, like Juventus, has had a poor start to the season. In the first few games, he looked utterly nervous between the sticks and was shaky with his handling of the ball. As a result, disasters followed, with the Pole costing Juve a significant tally of points due to individual errors.
On Sunday, coming out of his line to save the ball, he committed another blunder. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was alert to the situation. Sensing the impending danger, Szczęsny chose to foul the Armenian instead of clearing the ball.
In that instance, the Juve number one was lucky. First of all, the rebound fell kindly for Tammy Abraham, whose equaliser would’ve counted had not the referee blown the whistle for Szczęsny’s foul on Mkhitaryan moments earlier.
Therefore, by saving the penalty, not only did Wojciech Szczęsny celebrate the sweet taste of redemption for once, but he also felt rejuvenated after the horrid start to his personal campaign with the gloves for Juventus.
According to FBref.com, Szczęsny made three saves, including the one from the thumping header of Gianluca Mancini. With this performance, he should inspire Allegri and cement his place as Juve’s first-choice goalkeeper.
It was overall a commanding performance from the Polish international. Vocally sound at the back, Szczęsny helped the defenders organise the rearguard as well. Consequently, they reaped the fruits in the form of their second consecutive clean sheet in Serie A having gone 20 games without one.