Rome: Bologna continued its rise up the Serie A table with a 2-0 win away against Juventus on Saturday.
Marco Di Vaio took advantage of slack defending to hit two goals in the second half and condemn Juventus to its second loss in seven days.
Juventus enjoyed the majority of possession, but was unable to find a finish, and in doing so allowed Bologna to grow in confidence and grab its 10th victory of the season, only three days after losing to Roma 1-0.
"We didn't have much time to turn around," Di Vaio said. "We played on Wednesday and now tonight, even though that gave us little time to prepare. We played well and the team stuck together."
In the 25th, Bologna goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano pushed away a Felipe Melo shot, then smothered the follow-up from Vincenzo Iaquinta.
Juventus striker Alessandro Matri blasted over from inside the area from Giorgio Chiellini's cut back, and at the opposite end of the pitch Marco Storari rushed off his line to stop Riccardo Meggiorini.
Iaquinta came close again just before halftime. Chiellini headed down a free kick and Iaquinta spun and fired a shot first time, but the ball came back off the post and then off Federico Casarini into Viviano's grasp.
Bologna took the lead four minutes into the second half. Meggiorini lifted the ball over the Juventus defense and Di Vaio ran on, took a touch and fired over Marco Storari.
Milos Krasic whipped in a free kick that fell to Leonardo Bonucci. Viviano smothered his shot and Miguel Britos cleared as Chiellini was ready to prod the rebound.
Bologna immediately doubled its lead on the counterattack. Meggiorini backheeled the ball into Di Vaio's path and he shrugged off Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli to fire past Storari.
"I said to win this game we had to be 100 percent focused and precise in everything we did," Bologna coach Alberto Malesani said. "In the first half we weren't quite there, but in the second half we saw what this team can do and it scared Juventus."
Juventus tried to fight back. Bonucci sent a header narrowly wide of the post and Daniele Portanova cleared Luca Toni's shot off the line. Right at the death Simone Pepe whipped in a corner from the left that Viviano had to punch clear from under his own bar.
Comments
0 comment