19 June 2017
The final push before the winter break.
Juventus wrapped up a critical week in their season in style on 11 December as Gonzalo Higuain’s superbly taken double fired them to a 3-1 win over Torino at the Stadio Olimpico.
This was a pulsating 143rd Derby della Mole, coming just four days after Juve had booked their place in the UEFA Champions League last 16 as Group H winners after a 2-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb.
Billed as the battle of strikers Gonzalo Higuain and Andrea Belotti, both number nines more than lived up to the pre-match hype.
Torino's Belotti struck first, expertly guiding Daniele Baselli's near-post cross into the far corner to hand his team an undeserved lead on 16 minutes, within seconds of Joe Hart's excellent instinctive block on Mario Mandzukic at the other end.
Back came Higuain: a well-placed shot from Mandzukic's assist drew Juve level, one of the goals of the season swung the tie in the Old Lady's favour.
A seemingly harmless long ball floated into the Torino penalty area, defender Antonio Barecca hesitated and one man in the Stadio Olimpico was alive to where it would fall.
Within a heartbeat, Higuain had pounced, killed the ball dead with one touch, held off a challenge and slammed an unstoppable low drive into the net for his third goal in four days.
A good afternoon soon got better for the league leaders, Miralem Pjanic adding the gloss to a huge victory by slotting home on the rebound in stoppage time after Higuain had been denied his hat-trick by Hart.
WHAT THEY SAID
THE BEST PHOTOS
THE LEAGUE TABLE
