23 June 2017
Serie A Matchday 20 on Sunday 22 January marked a significant moment in Juventus' season.
Firstly, it marked the Bianconeri's only lunchtime kick off of the campaign against Lazio, a sell-out crowd gathering at Juventus Stadium at the unusual time of 12.30.
Secondly, when looking back on the development of Juve's six consecutive successful title defence, many singled out this game as a turning point.
Defeat to Fiorentina the previous week, in part, prompted a radical tactical switch from Massimiliano Allegri for the visit of Lazio, lining up Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic, Juan Cuadrado and Gonzalo Higuain all together for the very first time. The results, both on the day, and for the remainder of the year, would be devastating.
Thirdly, the match fell just days after the unveiling of the club's new logo and visual identity: with two goals and a bucaneering performance on the field, the Old Lady's new dawn off it, could not have got off to a better start.
The slogan accompanying the new logo launch in Milan was "We are Fearless" and Massimiliano Allegri's players demonstrated exactly that when taking to the field.
Five minutes in, Juve were in front. Stephan Lichtsteiner's floated crossfield pass was diverted into the path of Dybala by Mandzukic, the Argentine sweeping home superbly from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.
Such was the Bianconeri's intensity that day, the game was effectively ended within a quarter of an hour of kick-off: Cuadrado crossed from the right, Higuain darted in at the near post to prod into the net.
Leonardo Bonucci commented in before the match that Juventus “should never play badly twice in a row.”
Much to the delight of the home supporters that Sunday afternoon, the defender was absolutely right.
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