A winning start for Coach Massimiliano Canzi's Juventus Women who, in their opening game of the 2024/2025 Women's Serie A championship, overcame Sassuolo with a 6-3 win. Beccari, Girelli, Bergamaschi, Cantore, Vangsgaard and Lehmann were the Bianconere’s goalscorers at the Enzo Ricci stadium, while Clelland, Fischer and Gallazzi found then net for the Neroverdi.
THE MATCH REPORT
The first chance of the match fell to the home team following a corner kick, but Missipo skied her effort over the crossbar from a good position. Two minutes later, however, the Bianconere took the lead through a splendid solo effort by Chiara Beccari who, from the left side, beat two defenders and fired past Durand at the near post. It was a lively start to the game at the Enzo Ricci Stadium and just past the quarter of an hour mark, Sassuolo equalised via Clelland’s effort from outside the area with which Alessia Capelletti stood no chance. Clelland went close to a brace a minute later, grazing the post with her left footed effort, but it was the Juventus Women who took the lead again in the 20th minute with a penalty kick, which was given for a handball by Orsi, before being expertly converted by Cristiana Girelli. The Bianconere added a third on the 35th minute as Arianna Caruso’s corner towards the back post was headed home by the onrushing Valentina Bergamaschi. Juve went into the half-time break 3-1 up.
The second half started in the best possible manner for coach Canzi's team who made it 4-1 in the 49th minute when Sofia Cantore used her speed to beat Pleidrup before slotting home. They very nearly added a fifth in the 52nd minute, but Caruso couldn’t quite convert Beccari’s excellent pass. Sassuolo then clawed one back through Fischer who slotted home the rebound after Capelletti had initially denied Chmielinski. Caruso came close once again in the 73rd minute but she saw her shot towards the far post pushed behind by Durand. Just two minutes later Sassuolo caught Juventus off guard from a corner kick and Gallazzi was on hand to make it 4-3. However, Juventus Women quickly restored their two-goal lead in the 82nd minute when the freshly introduced Amalie Vangsgaard found the back of the net with a left footed effort following Lindsey Thomas’s cross. Another newcomer who was introduced from the bench then got on the scoresheet, as Alisha Lehmann pounced on a mistake by the Sassuolo defence before calmly finishing to make it 6-3. That brought an end to an action-packed first league game for the Bianconere.
COACH CANZI'S REFLECTIONS ON THE GAME
"We have been preparing over the last five weeks, we know that we can't be at our top level right now but it is definitely a positive result. We can take positives from the attacking threat, the ability to hurt the opposition and the fact that all the forwards scored, which makes us very happy. We have improved in that aspect, now we have to do it defensively because you can't be satisfied when you concede three goals because in 95 percent of cases when you concede three goals it ends in defeat. In some situations we lost our concentration. We will try to fight for the championship until the end, for us it was important to start well because we were playing against a team that participated in the Poule Scudetto last year and has changed a lot, and are a team that we have a lot of respect for and that has demonstrated their ability to cause us problems.”
CHIARA BECCARI'S THOUGHTS
"I am happy to have scored my first goal in this shirt, we wanted to start well and we managed to bring home the three points. I am happy to have been able to break the deadlock, I have dreamed of scoring in Serie A in this shirt for a long time and I am very happy. We worked a lot during preseason playing good matches, today it was important to start well and bring home the victory."
SASSUOLO 3-6 JUVENTUS WOMEN
Stadio Enzo Ricci (Sassuolo), Sunday, 1 September, 2024 at 18.00 (CEST)
Goals: 7’ Beccari (J), 15’ Clelland (S), 19’ Pen. Girelli (J), 34’ Bergamaschi (J), 48’ Cantore (J), 54’ Fisher (S), 75’ Gallazzi (S), 82’ Vangsgaard (J), 85’ Lehmann (J)
Sassuolo: Philtjens, Gram, Brustia, Chmielinski (84’ Sabatino), Fisher (80’ Traore), Ndoutou Eboa Missi, Durand, Prugna (66’ Monterubbiano), Gallazzi, Orsi (Cap), Clelland (66’ Girotto).
Unused Substitutes: Lonni, Caiazzo, Adami, Hagemann, Nocchi, Di Nallo, Fusini, Perselli.
Coach: Gian Loris Rossi.
Juventus: Capelletti, Lenzini (65’ Gama), Kullberg, Cascarino, Caruso (Cap) (83’ Schatzer), Bennison, Krumbiegel (60’ Thomas), Bergamaschi, Beccari (60’ Lehmann), Girelli (60’ Vangsgaard), Cantore.
Unused Substitutes: Rosucci, Boattin, Bragonzi, Pelgander, Calligaris, Mustafic, Proulx.
Coach: Massimiliano Canzi.
Referee: Cristiano Ursini
Assistants: Giuseppe Bosco, Fabio D’Ettorre
Fourth Official: Alessandro Bini
Bookings: 2’ Cascarino (J)
Next Match:
Olympique Lyonnais-Juventus
Saturday, 7 September, 2024 at 17:00 (CEST)
Stade Pierre Rajon, Bourgoin-Jallieu (France)