A brave Juan Cuadrado admitted after Juventus’ 2-0 victory over Genoa on Sunday night that he didn’t mean to score directly from the corner that broke the deadlock.
The Colombian’s fiercely whipped inswinger caught Genoa shot-stopper off guard and, in the end, there was little the Italian goalkeeper could do from preventing the corner from hitting the back of the net.
JUAN CUADRADO SCORES DIRECTLY FROM A CORNER! 😳
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 5, 2021
What. A. Goal! 💫 pic.twitter.com/BwWIR3gKdT
The fortuitous goal eased any tension in the Allianz Stadium as Juventus went on to dominate a depleted Rossublu outfit. If it wasn’t for Sirigu, the scoreline could’ve quite easily been 5-0 as the veteran pulled off a string of brilliant saves to frustrate the hosts.
Despite Genoa’s incompetence, Juve’s inability to put the game away after Cuadrado’s opener had supporters dreading that they’d drop more points at home. It wasn’t until Paulo Dybala emphatically drilled a shot across Sirigu with eight minutes remaining that Juventini could breathe a universal sigh of relief.
Cuadrado was aiming for the near post in corner goal
Post-match, Dybala told DAZN Italy (via @JuveFC) that Cuadrado had told him that his corner goal was a cross. Then, we got confirmation from the man himself.
“Honestly no I didn’t mean to score. We worked on corners towards the first post so I just tried to hit the ball hard there,” admitted the Colombian.
“I tried to hit the ball hard towards the near post, but fortunately it went even better and the ball went in, so I was thrilled,” he told the club.
James Horncastle, working as a pundit for UK broadcaster BT Sport, revealed that Cuadrado had become one of just eight players to have scored directly from a corner in Serie A over the past decade.
The likes of Papu Gomez and Jose Callejon are on that list, as is Hakan Calhanoglu. The Inter Milan midfielder’s inswinging corner outwitted Rui Patricio as Inter Milan trounced AS Roma 3-0 on Saturday evening.
You know what they say about corner goals, right? They’re like London buses. You wait so long for one then two come around out once!