Juventus were surprisingly slow out of the blocks for the visit of Patrick Viera's mid-table Genoa today. After an early scare, followed by missed scoring chances for Nicolas Gonzalez and Nicolas Gonzalez, the talented Turkish teenager broke the deadlock.
Tudor handed Dusan Vlahovic, his favourite Serie A striker, only his second league start of 2025. The newly-installed interim manager was rewarded for his faith in the Serbia star, who brilliantly set up Yildiz to slot into the top left from six yards past stunned 'keeper Nicola Leali.
The 25th-minute strike sent the home fans inside the jam-packed Allianz Stadium into a wild frenzy of celebrations, the first goal of the new Tudor era.
Having failed miserably at both ends of the pitch in what turned out to be Thiago Motta's final two matches, demolished 4-0 at home by Atalanta and then thrashed 3-0 at Fiorentina, there was a new-found confidence on the pitch and in the stands.
Gatti injury
The only blip for Tudor was losing influential defender Federico Gatti because of an injury, which brought the clash to a brief standstill on 13 minutes. Although Gatti tried his utmost, he was replaced by Pierre Kalulu on 27 minutes.
Genoa tried to take advantage of the reshuffled back three defensive line, but Alan Matturro's header and Morten Frendrup's long-range effort were poorly steered wide of the target.
The closest the tussle came to another first-half goal was on the verge of the half-time whistle, when Yildiz set up Vlahovic but he tried an ambitious effort that Leali easily saved.
Slow starters
After the turnaround the hosts again made a cautious start, soaking up the pressure rather than pressing forward. Andrea Pinamonti came close to converting Stefano Sabelli's cross on 55 minutes, and Johan Vasquez should have got his close-range header on target 100 seconds later.
The ball was immediately pumped up to Yildiz, who picked out the impressive Vlahovic only for Leali to once more deal with the danger.
With Juve looking flat, Tudor made a change on 66 minutes with Francisco Conceicao replacing Teun Koopmeiners. Conceicao almost made an instant impact with a wonderful cross for Kalulu, but his header directed to the bottom left corner was brilliantly saved by Leali.
Shotstopper Michele Di Gregorio was enjoying a quiet stint between the sticks at the other end of the pitch. He was called into rare action on 83 minutes to prevent Ruslan Malinovskyi from equalising, and 60 seconds later saw Koni De Winter's shot whistle past the gaping goalmouth.
The industrious Vlahovic found skipper Manuel Locatelli just outside the box, but a snatched effort was no problem for Leali's safe pair of hands.
Wasted chances
With the home supporters willing on their beloved side to add their tally during stoppage time, Juventus should have doubled their lead. Renato Veiga's header from six yards whistled past the right-hand post and then overworked Leali saved Timothy Weah's effort.
The stadium erupted at the final whistle, with Tudor earning maximum points to sit behind fourth-placed Bologna and bringing smiles back to his squad after their disappointing rollercoaster ride of Project Motta.