26 February 2023
Juventus Women won the closing fixture of the regular season to wrap up the first phase of the new format of Serie A. A 2-1 victory over Parma at Vinovo ensured that the Bianconere finished in second place heading into the Scudetto round of the campaign.
Goals from Barbara Bonansea and Cristiana Girelli gave Juve a two-goal lead at half-time, which would prove vital come full time.
THE MATCH
The opening 15 minutes set the tone for the first Serie A encounter in Turin between Juve and Parma. Joe Montemurro’s side came out of the blocks strongly and as early as the first minute Barbara Bonansea tested Alessia Capelletti.
Eight minutes later Lineth Beerensteyn went one-on-one with Capelletti and placed her shot beyond the advancing keeper, only for defender Nora Heroum to clear off the line.
Three chances in as many minutes from the 12th minute but incredibly the scoreline remained goalless.
The first attempt came from Alice Benoit. The French midfielder smashed her shot off the crossbar, much to the relief of compatriot Pauline Peyraud-Magnin.
Then Beerenseyn and Capelletti duelled again, with the Parma keeper making a remarkable reflex save to keep out Lineth’s point-blank header. A minute later, again with a header Sara Gunnarsdóttir couldn’t hit the target at the far post with the goal gaping.
However, the breakthrough wasn't long in arriving.
Despite being off-balance, Bonansea tried her luck from the edge of the area. The trajectory of the shot proved deceptive for Capelletti and Juve were a goal to the good.
On 20’ Juve doubled their lead after the front-three linked up to perfection. Bonansea sent Beerensteyn on the run. The Netherlands international in turn picked out Cristiana Girelli, who fired her effort beyond Capelletti.
The Bianconere almost handed their opponents a life-line just three minutes later, but Erika Santoro failed to take advantage.
Ceciia Salvai came close to adding a third before the break but her drive from distance whistled just wide of the top corner.
After the interval three chances fell in quick succession to Beerensteyn. The first was the result of a quick give and go with Girelli, but the number 18 shot wide. Four minutes later the winger hit the target but Capelletti parried the effort with the rebound cleared just as Sofie Pederson was arriving for the tap-in.
Beerensteyn’s pace once again caused havoc in the Parma defence on 62’. Lineth raced in on goal but came out second best in the one-on-one with the Parma number one.
With 10 minutes remaining the contest was thrown wide open. The Bianconere defence was distracted due to an injury to Martina Rosucci. Michela Cambiaghi took advantage to halve the deficit.
Parma did not threaten the Juve defence again as the Bianconere collected three important points. However, the injury to Rosucci took some of the shine off the victory.
JUVENTUS WOMEN 2-1 PARMA (HT: 2-0)
SCORERS: 6′ Bonansea, 20′ Girelli, 80′ Cambiaghi
JUVENTUS: Peyraud-Magnin; Gama, Rosucci (82′ Lenzini), Sembrant, Salvai; Gunnarsdottir, Pedersen, Caruso (67′ Cernoia); Bonansea, Girelli (67′ Nystrom), Beerensteyn. Subs not used: Aprile, Simon, Duljan, Pfattner, Grosso, Cantore. Coach: Montemurro.
PARMA: Capelletti; Santoro, William, Cox, Heroum; Bardin, Farrelly, Benoit; Arcangeli (33′ Maia), Lazaro (57′ Cambiaghi), Corbin (57′ Martinovic). Subs not used: Ciccioli, Nicolini, Arnadottir, Vaitukaityte, Arrigoni, Brscic. Coach: Panico
Referee: Pacella
