Juve Women put six past Okzhetpes

Juventus Women put on a show as they beat Okzhetpes 6-0 in their first fixture of the UEFA Women's Champions League mini-tournament qualifiers. The Bianconere had by half-time already set themselves up for victory, taking a 3-0 lead into the break thanks to strikes from Cristiana Girelli, Martina Lenzini and Arianna Caruso, before scoring the same amout of goals in the second period as Girelli, Sofia Cantore and a maiden Ella Palis goal secured the 6-0 win.

THE MATCH

Juventus Women's intentions were clear from the start, taking just four minutes to carve out the game’s first opportunity as Lisa Boattin let fly, her effort whizzing narrowly wide. Two minutes later and the Bianconere were ahead, this time Boattin taking on the role of assist-woman as Girelli met her perfect cross to net her side’s first official goal of the 2023/24 season – her 10^4th in black and white.

A goal up, the Juve ladies went in search of more, Caruso and Giulia Grosso seeing their efforts on goal saved, before Lineth Beerensteyn took aim but failed to find the target. Yet the second would come on 31 minutes as Lenzini’s cross-cum-shot found its way into the back of the net. The Italian dominance continued right up until the half-time whistle, with Caruso adding her name to the scoresheet in injury time to give her side a healthy half-time advantage.

The second half continued in the same vein, with the two players involved in the first goal repeating their antics for the fourth: a Boattin assist for Girelli to secure her brace. The Bianconere were merciless, continuing to pile the pressure on the opposition goal, with second-half substitutes Palis and Maelle Garbino coming close to their first strikes for their new club.

In injury time, Boattin completed her hat-trick of assists as Cantore nodded home, before Palis completed the rout with her first for Juve, a long-range strike opening her Bianconere account in style.

In the end, the 6-0 scoreline saw Juventus Women progress through to the next round of their UWCL qualifiers, where they will next take on the winner of the match between Eintracht Frankfurt and Slovacko.

COACH'S COMMENTS

“These matches are useful for seeing many things,” Coach Joe Montemurro said post-match. “We saw the team's concentration and ability to stay in the game and we also saw some good football. We created many opportunities and we could have scored even more goals, so it was an important match for our progress. Saturday's match? I have faith, we can win it and get through. Whoever we face, we know we will play against a strong team. Enitracht would, in this case, have the advantage of playing at home, but we are aware of being able to play at this level, we have already played big matches in the Champions League. It's never easy, we've never found an easy path in this tournament, but if you want to be among the best you have to play against the best.

"Individual performances? I liked Palis, in the second half we saw more of her value, Cascarino is the proactive defender we needed, it's important to have a player like her to always stay on top. Cantore is fine, she hadn't yet played 90 minutes in pre-season so I wanted to see her play through to the end. We were able to see with her a couple of things we are working on. Bonansea is also fine, she worked a lot during the pre-season, so she is well and I’ve kept her ready for Saturday. Salvai had a small back problem after Brescia, we gave her some rest ahead of the next match."

JUVENTUS WOMEN 6-0 WFC OKZHETPES (HT: 3-0)

*Stadion Am Brentanobad, frankfurt, Germany

Scorers: 6’ Girelli (J), 31’ Lenzini (J), 45+3’ Caruso (J), 58' Girelli (J), 90+1' Cantore (J), 90+5' Palis (J)

Juventus: Peyraud-Magnin, Nilden, Lenzini, Cascarino (70’ Sembrant), Boattin (Cap), Palis, Cantore, Caruso (70' Garbino), Grosso (73' Gunnarsdottir), Beerensteyn (70' Thomas), Girelli (73' Nystrom). Unused subs: Aprile, Gama, Cafferata, Bonansea, Toniolo, Bellucci. Coach: Joseph Montemurro

WFC Okzhetpes: Portnova, Koziyeva, Pizlova (86' Zhahayeva), Orynbassarova, Agbotsu (84' Shustova), Galstyan, Akpo, Kuztay, El Bastali (62' Prokhorova), Vlasova (Cap), Balogun. Unused subs: Bekpenbet, Zeinali, Rakhimzhanova, Aitmukhanova, Darroux, Amantay. Coach: Kirgizbayeva Begaim

Next Match
Mini Tournament UWCL, Final
Juventus vs winner of Eintracht Frankfurt vs FC Slovacko
Saturday 9 September 2023, 13.00 CEST, Deutche Bank Park, Frankfurt