Strikes from Conceicao and Lois Openda helped Juventus seal three precious points with a 2-1 success at home to AS Roma on Saturday night. With Tommaso Baldanzi reducing
the deficit with 15 minutes remaining.
There were celebrations inside the Allianz Stadium both before and after the clash, with Weston McKennie awarded a commemorative plaque for reaching a milestone 200 Juve appearances and Turkish talent Kenan Yildiz scooping the Serie A Rising Star of the Month for November.
Juventus fans may have stunned by the line-up against Roma, with unorthodox striker Openda given the nod over goal poacher Jonathan David to start, and the return of veteran center forward Arkadiusz Milik on the bench after being absent for 574 days following a spate of injuries.
While Bianconeri boss Luciano Spalletti was forced into having to shuffle his starters as Teun Koopmeiners was suspended, with Brazilian defender Gleison Bremer making his first start since his meniscus injury in late September.
The clash of the highfliers, battling it for a coveted fourth place in Serie A that at the end of the season secures an automatic Champions League berth, inside the Allianz Stadium appeared before kick off to be a low-scoring affair.
Juventus had scored four times from their past three league contests, better than Roma's one strike in a trio of Serie A encounters. The visitors arriving having won 1-0 at Como in their last outing, having suffered 1-0 defeats to Napoli and Cagliari.
Ex-Juve players return to Turin
Two former Juve favorites, striker Paulo Dybala and right winger Matias Soule, started under wily head coach Gian Piero Gasperini who had a plethora of key player out with injury or on international duty at the 2025 African Cup of Nations.
Roma kicked off the season full of promise after they nabbed Gasperini from Atalanta in the summer, but have lost some momentum in trying to keep up with the top three of AC Milan, Inter Milan and Napoli.
Dybala tested home keeper Michele Di Gregorio with the opening attack of the game, and beat Bremer to the ball only to guide his effort wide of the near post from six yards to keep Juventus on their toes.
After Conceicao dribbled around Devyne Rensch he failed to beat Mile Svilar, but shortly after bagged the opening goal on 44 minutes. Yildiz rolled the ball into the path of Andrea Cambiaso, who cleverly heel flicked it onto Conceicao. The Portuguese winger drove his shot through Jan Ziolkowski’s legs and into the far bottom corner.
After the turnaround, a neat one-two between Yildiz and Openda resulted in an angled drive from the Turkish international skim the far post.
Renewed Juventus confidence
With Juve showing confidence, Svilar kept out Conceicao's back heel flick and saved a thunderous shot from Cambiaso from the edge of the box..
With Roma playing second fiddle, Gasperini altered his three-pronged attack and Spalletti was forced to make changes just after the hour-mark with Bremer and Conceicao were replaced by Daniele Rugani and Edon Zhegrova because of muscular problems.
Juventus doubled their lead after McKennie prodded a loose ball into the path of Openda for a close range tap-in on 70 minutes, his first Serie A goal since joining Juventus on loan from RB Leipzig in the summer.
Jamaican international Leon Bailey limped off with a flexor injury just 20 minutes after arriving as a substitute, but things took an upturn for the visitors with a goal.
Evan Ferguson’s angled drive was too hot to handle for Di Gregorio, who parried the ball straight at the feet of Baldanzi for a straightforward strike at the back post.
Yildiz twice denied by woodwork
Livewire Yildiz came perilously close to adding a third goal for Juventus, only for his thunderbolt to cannon back off the base of the upright.
Roma almost snatched a dramatic stoppage time equalizer, only for Ferguson to send his effort into the welcoming arms of Di Gregorio.
Roma's scoring ability seems have eluded them, have bagged just 17 goals in 16 league games this season that is put to shame by Juventus.
The Bianconeri remain fifth in the Serie A, only a point behind Roma, and are on a roll with six wins from their past seven matches under Spalletti.
JUVENTUS: Di Gregorio - Kalulu, Bremer (Rugani, 61). Kelly - McKennie, Locatelli, Thuram, Cambiaso (Kostic, 89) - Conceicao (Zhegrova, 61), Yildiz (Miretti, 89)- Openda (David, 82). Subs: Perin. Milik, Adzic, Mario, Rouhi, Scaglia, Filipe