29 October 2022
It needed something special to break down Lecce at the Via del Mare stadium and that something special was provided by Nicolò Fagioli.
His first ever Serie A goal rewarded Juve with all three points at Lecce for a third consecutive Serie A win for the Bianconeri.
GOALLESS AT THE BREAK
The first half saw Juventus gradually gain the upper hand over the hosts. On 27 minutes, Juan Cuadrado bore in on goal and dragged a shot across the face of goal, too far beyond the lurking Arek Milik for it to be a pass and too far from the far post to worry Wladimiro Falcone in the Lecce goal. Four minutes later Adrien Rabiot looked to continue his scoring burst but his drive from the edge of the area was comfortably saved.
Juve upped the pressure heading into the final minutes of the opening spell. Fabio Miretti’s shot was deflected for a corner, one of four in quick succession. Again Rabiot was on the end of the delivery. His header was punched off the goalline by Falcone.
JUVE TURN UP THE PRESSURE
Juventus continued to press at the start of the second period. A Cuadrado free-kick was headed back across the face of goal by Federico Gatti, but was just out of reach of Milik. Again Milik was involved in a well-worked move that included Fabio Miretti and Filip Kostić but the striker’s back heel was bravely pounced on by Falcone as Cuadrado slid in at the far post.
The introduction of Moise Kean with just under half an hour to play increased the Juve presence in the opposition penalty area, and the striker came close with a header which flashed just wide.
THE BREAKTHROUGH
It was another substitute, one who came on at the start of the second half, Nicolò Fagioli who provided the touch of class that produced the breakthrough. Another Next Gen graduate Samuel Iling rolled the ball to the midfielder who hit a shot on the turn that curled in off the far post.
The celebration matched the importance of the goal for the midfielder that had come through the Juve Academy.
Lecce were obliged to show something as an attacking force and came close to an equaliser in the final minute of normal time. Morten Hjulmand drilled a shot on goal but the home captain’s effort slammed off the post and rebounded to safety.
Juve saw out the remainder of the match to collect a third win on the spin in Serie A - all without conceding a goal.
LECCE 0-1 JUVENTUS (HT: 0-0)
Scorer: 73′ Fagioli (J).
LECCE: Falcone; Baschirotto, Pongracic, Gendrey, Gallo; Blin (60′ Askildsen), Hjulmand, Gonzalez (87′ Rodriguez); Strefezza (82′ Di Francesco), Ceesay (82′ Colombo), Oudin (60′ Banda). Subs not used: Pezzella, Tuia,, Listkowski, Bleve, Dermaku, Persson, Umtiti, Helgason, Bistrovic, Cetin. Coach: Baroni.
JUVENTUS: Szczesny; Cuadrado, Gatti, Danilo, Alex Sandro; McKennie (46′ Fagioli), Miretti (62′ Kean), Rabiot, Kostic (72′ Iling-Junior); Soulé (84′ Bonucci); Milik. Subs not used: Pinsoglio, Perin, Rugani, Compagnon, Kean, Iling jr. Coach: Allegri.
Referee: Chiffi.
BOOKINGS: 12′ Miretti (J), 17′ Cuadrado (J), 23′ Milik (J), 28′ Gatti (J), 59′ Cissey (L), 71′ Pongracic (L), 78′ Iling (J), 90+2′ Di Francesco (L).
