Juventus, now cut off from the race for the Scudetto, locks fourth place in Cagliari, winning a difficult victory and at the end of a match that is perhaps more fought than they had expected at Juventus. And the disappointment over the knockout in the Derby d’Italia was put aside for a while. Thanks to De Ligt and Vlahovic, who put together a match that started badly for the bianconeri, due to Joao Pedro’s goal after 10 ‘. A not brilliant match: against a Cagliari always closed behind, Juve won through exhaustion. Also thanks to the isolated ideas of the more technical and inspired players: Cuadrado, author of the first assist; Dybala, protagonist of the pass-goal for Vlahovic. For Juve, a match to be won in any way. Even at the expense of clarity. It was too important to react.
For its part, Cagliari could not do more and eventually gave up. For Walter Mazzzari’s team it is the fifth defeat in a row: now they risk the engagement of Genoa and Serie B. A bitter defeat, that of this evening, because for a while Cagliari had also deluded itself that points. In the end, always leaving the initiative to the opponents is a boomerang. The scheme of the match is all in the first minutes: Juventus commands, but is annoyed in the dribble by a Cagliari that leaves no free space for the maneuver. It sounds easy, but it’s not. Because, precisely with high pressure, Cagliari wins the first heavy ball of the match and scores: Marin eradicates the ball from Dybala’s feet in midfield and flies to the right, Juventus loses the points of reference, Arthur does not close on Joao Pedro that places a comfortable right, comfortable under the seven.
At 23 ‘Juventus seems to have already solved the problem with Luca Pellegrini’s first goal in Serie A. It is a diagonal that slips into the corner, but the trajectory is deviated. The Var discovers that the decisive touch is that of Rabiot’s elbow. All to be redone. New emotion in the half hour with a free kick from Dybala ended up just outside. Dybala seems to be the element with the most initiative, but at times he lacks the right interpretation of the development of the action. And for Vlahovic there aren’t any clean balls, not even to pick up the team. Then Juventus tries, starting from the bottom with Arthur, but the action is always cumbersome. Try and try again, however, the goal arrives. The right move is from Cuadrado, loaned to the left wing. First a shot by the Colombian forces Cragno to the corner. Then, still Cuadrado on the left invents dribbling and assists for De Ligt who, left alone in the area, scores with a header. In the second half it starts again with a more convinced Juve who, within 3 ‘, deceives themselves twice.
First with Chiellini (goal canceled for offside) and then with a golden opportunity for Dybala. Now Juventus seems more determined and Cagliari less suffocating than in the first portion of the game. Result? It is played only in the rossoblu half of the pitch. Allegri raises Bernardeschi in place of a Rabiot that he had given little in terms of thrust forward. Finally push and push, the ball enters. Vlahovic scores from a rebound with Altare after a through ball by Dybala. A goal that closes the match.