The Bianconere went into the game against Empoli top of the Serie A table with a six-point margin ahead of Fiorentina in second and made a fast and ferocious start to the match, looking for the points to stay even further ahead of the chasing pack. It wasn’t long until the breakthrough came, as on 18 minutes Cristiana Girelli bagged her 12thgoal in 12 games when she anticipated the goalkeeper to fire low into the corner. Juve continued to press forward and it was Girelli once more leading the charge with her dangerous shot just two minutes later being turned away by opposing goalkeeper, Rachele Baldi.
On 30 minutes Girelli met Barbara Bonansea’s cross with a header but it went just wide of the goal. Empoli got themselves back into it six minutes before half-time, forward Arianna Acuti got a header on a cross to beat Laura Giuliani to ensure the hosts would head into the break with the scores level at 1-1.
Juventus Women rallied in the second half in search of retaking the lead and just before the hour mark the girls were back in front. Valentina Cernoia found the ball in the box and her instinctive left-footed shot was powered into the far corner leaving the keeper rooted to the spot to make it 2-1 to Rita Guarino’s girls. Aurora Galli then went close on 60 minutes but Baldi was equal to the midfielder’s strike tipping it away. Cernoia nearly added to the advantage on 88 minutes when her strong shot from distance was almost palmed into the goal by keeper Baldi, however she manged to grab the shot on the line.
The game finished 2-1 to the Bianconere who keep top spot and look ahead to their next fixture against Sassuolo next weekend at Vinovo.
POST-MATCH COMMENTS