Juventus keep Champions League hope alive with a win

Juventus have continued the fight for fourth spot with a 2-0 victory over Genoa.

The Bianconeri recorded maximum points courtesy of an early goal from Gleison Bremer and Weston McKennie.

Juventus also allayed any fears of a comeback as substitute Michele Di Gregorio also saved a penalty.

The Bianconeri had dropped to the fifth spot after a 1-1 draw with Sassuolo, and Como’s draw in Udine allowed them to close the gap on fourth.

Luciano Spalletti finally had a full squad to choose from as Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik returned to the bench. 

Genoa were without Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Maxwel Cornet, and Benjamin Siegrist. They had travelled to Turin on a run of three wins in four games, ended by a home defeat to Udinese. 

In a touchline reunion between Spalletti and his former Roma player Daniele De Rossi, the boss took home the maximum points.

Juventus needed just four minutes to break the deadlock as the first Gleison Bremer header was charged down, Khephren Thuram and Lloyd Kelly knocked it back into the box for another Bremer header,  wrong-footing Justin Bijlow with a deflection off Johan Vasquez.

Thuram had a chance to double their lead, but his shot flashed wide while Ruslan Malinovskyi’s powerful free kick was deflected for a corner.

The hosts eventually got the second with a well-worked move started byWeston McKennie in the centre circle, sending Francisco Conceicao down the right. 

The American continued his run and eventually swept home the return pass from 12 yards off the inside of the right boot.

McKennie got booked a few minutes later for a clumsy sliding tackle on Vasquez. This leaves him suspended for the big match with Atalanta.

Kenan Yildiz’s weak efforts went straight at Bijlow. McKennie had a chance to net a brace but wasted an astonishing chance on the stroke of half-time. 

Conceicao released a cross that was acrobatically knocked back at the by-line by Kenan Yildiz, but McKennie turned over his shot from point-blank range.

Conceicao’s angled drive also flashed across the face of the goal to skim the back stick.

Di Gregorio was a second-half substitute as Mattia Perin sustained a slight calf issue.

Juve continued the search for the third that could kill the game as they poured forward.  McKennie slid in, unable to meet the Thuram knockdown in a free-kick routine while Jonathan David’s screamer from the edge of the area thumped the inside of the far post.

Genoa also recorded some chances as Tommaso Baldanzi’s shot was straight at Di Gregorio, while the Vasquez strike was charged down, along with a Vitinha volley from a corner.

Vlahovic couldn’t make his return from injury as he felt a calf twinge in the warm-up, prompting Spaletti to introduce Milik instead.

Genoa got an opportunity to reduce the deficit after Bremer brought down Aaron Martin in the box. The defender was issued a yellow card after a  VAR intervention.

But Di Gregorio marked his unexpected return with a huge double save from the spotkick, first on Martin’s, then the follow-up volley too.

This added to Genoa’s bad record on penalties, having failed to convert four of their eight Serie A penalties this season, with four different players missing.

Substitute Baldanzi became a handful for Juventus as he was brought down by Thuram inches outside the box.

Milik tried to lob the ball from the centre circle over  Bijlow, who was off his line, but the Genoa goalkeeper scrambled back to claw away.