Juventus came from behind to collect all three points at a rain drenched Arecchi Stadium. The Bianconeri were trailing to a Giulio Maggiore goal at the interval, but took advantage of the Salernitana midfielder’s sending off on 53 minutes to lay siege on the home goal and turn the game on its head.
Samuel Iling-Junior rifled home the equaliser on 65 minutes and as the clocked ticked into stoppages, Dusan Vlahovic towered above the Salernitana defence to head the game’s winning goal.
The victory allowed Juventus to reach the midway point of the season on 46 points.
THE MATCH
The result of the midweek cup tie had little bearing on the opening exchanges of the league encounter against Salernitana. With Federico Chiesa sidelined with a swollen knee, Kenan Yildiz started his third consecutive Serie A match. Straight from kick-off the teenager attacked the opposition defence, but would soon find was space was exceedingly hard to find.
Filippo Inzaghi welcomed back Federico Fazio at the heart of the home defence and the veteran proved pivotal in denying Juve the game’s opening goal.
The clock had already ticked onto the 25th minute when a free-kick from Hans Nicolussi Caviglia appeared to be destined to reach Bremer, poised to head the ball into the net when Fazio backtracked to make a massive interception.
Before that chance, Weston McKennie had forced a save from Benoit Costil. However, the referee awarded a free-kick to the home side for an earlier infringement.
Juventus, toiling to break down the well-organised defensive line, were caught on the break on 39 minutes.
A long pass from the back released Salomon Sambia, who cut the ball back to Louma Tchaouna inside the penalty area. The forward laid off to Giulio Maggiore, who took the pass with his right foot to then hit a left foot piledriver out of the reach of Wojciech Szczesny.
The Bianconeri started the second half with intent. McKennie glanced his diving header wide just three minutes in.
Five minutes later, Juve found themselves with a numerical superiority. Maggiore tripped Adrien Rabiot as he powered towards the Salernitana penalty area. The first-half goal scorer received his second yellow card, leaving the home side down to 10 men.
Juve upped the pressure as Salernitana sat deeper and deeper. And the pressure paid off on 65 minutes.
Arkadiusz Milik threaded a pass to Tim Weah, whose cut back picked out Dusan Vlahovic. The striker’s miss-hit shot arrived at the feet of Samuel Iling Junior, who slammed the ball high into the roof of the net.
Although Domagoj Bradaric asked Szczesny to produce his first serious save of the match soon after, the pattern of the game remained the same, with the home side defending in numbers.
And the tactics were frustrating Juventus, until the first minute of stoppage time. Danilo intercepted inside the Salernitana half and quickly released a cross into the heart of the penalty area. Just as he had done in the previous away fixture at Frosinone, Vlahovic outjumped his marker to power a header beyond the home goalkeeper.
The number 9 celebrated in front of the travelling support and was quickly mobbed by his teammates.
Juventus had completed the turnaround to claim an 11th win in their 14 match unbeaten run in Serie A.
SALERNITANA 1-2 JUVENTUS (HT: 1-0)
Scorers: 39′ Maggiore, 65′ Iling-Junior, 90+1′ Vlahovic
SALERNITANA: Costil, Daniliuc, Gyomber, Fazio; Sambia (89′ Martegani), Legowski, Maggiore, Bradaric; Candreva, Tchaouna (57′ Bronn); Simy (77′ Ikwuemesi). Subs not used: Fiorillo, Ochoa, Botheim, Stewart, Sfait, Lovato. Coach: Inzaghi.
JUVENTUS: Szczęsny; Gatti (46′ Rugani), Bremer, Danilo; Weah (78′ Nonge), McKennie, Nicolussi Caviglia (59′ Milik), Rabiot, Kostic (46′ Iling-Junior); Yildiz (68′ Miretti), Vlahovic. Subs not used: Pinsoglio, Perin. Coach: Allegri.
Referee: Guida
Bookings: 20′ Gyomber, 32′ Maggiore, 43′ Gatti, 69′ McKennie, 73′ Rugani, 91′ Vlahovic, 92′ Rabiot
Sending off: 53′ Maggiore