Juventus qualified for the Champions League next season after defeating Bologna 4-1 at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Sunday evening, following Napoli’s draw to Verona. Chiesa opened the scoring for the Bianconeri, before a brace from Morata and Rabiot sealed the three points in the season finale.
BIANCONERI DOMINATE FIRST HALF
Buoyed by their victory in the Coppa Italia final on Wednesday, the Bianconeri were eager to finish off the season with a win. They started off in the right manner when they took the lead in the fifth minute: Kulusevski rolled the ball across goal, it found Rabiot whose shot rattled the crossbar, before the rebound landed in front of Chiesa and he sliced it home. Neither goalkeeper was put to the test until the 29th minute when the Bianconeri made it 2-0: Dybala did all the hard work by dribbling past his opponents, before chipping it over Skorupski where Morata nodded it in from a yard out. A third and final goal of the half was added on the stroke of half time when Rabiot slotted the ball into the back of the net from Kulusesvki’s assist.
MORATA WRAPS IT UP
The opening seconds of the second half were action packed: Bologna thought they had pulled a goal back when Palacio slotted the ball past Szczesny straight from kick-off, only to have it ruled off for offside. From that goalkeeper, the Polish goalkeeper hoofed the ball up field and it fell to Morata, who made no mistake in grabbing his second of the game. It was so nearly a hat-trick for the Spaniard when he blasted Cuadrado’s cross into the side-netting from point-blank range, while Pirlo opted for a string of changes which included Pinsoglio coming on in place of Tek for his first appearance of the season. Arthur saw his shot charged down, before Kulusevski saw his goal ruled out for offside in the 80th minute of play. Bologna’s consolation goal would land up being the final goal of the game when Orsolini sliced home an angled drive to see the game end 4-1 in favour of Juventus as they finished in fourth place.
Bologna XI: Skorupski; Tomiyasu, Medel, Soumaoro, De Silvestri; Schouten, Svanberg; Skov Olsen, Vignato, Barrow; Palacio
Juventus XI: Szczesny (Pinsoglio 67’); Cuadrado, de Ligt (Bonucci 46’), Chiellini (McKennie 58’), Alex Sandro; Kulusevski, Danilo (Bernardeschi 67’), Rabiot, Chiesa (Arthur 58’); Dybala, Morata
Subs: Buffon, Pinsoglio, Bonucci, Demiral, Frabotta, Arthur, McKennie, Bernardeschi, Fagioli, Cristiano Ronaldo, Felix Correia.