In what was an important match for both team’s Champions League aspirations, Juventus edged out Roma 4 goals to 3. The game was everything a neutral fan would dream of, whilst surely stressful for the Juventus and Roma fans. The match included a penalty, a red card, a superb free kick and an insane come back from Juventus.
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Roma were the better team in the beginning and that showed when in the 11th minute they scored, through a Tammy Abraham header. The start from Roma was unexpected but it seemed that new signing Ainsley Maintland-Niles and Mourinho’s decision to switch to a back 4 helped. Despite Roma’s perfect start, Paolo Dybala managed to equalize from a stunning finish only 7 minutes after Abraham’s opener.
The beginning of the second half like the first saw Roma dominating and scoring early, as in the 48th minute Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored with the help of a Rugani deflection. The Roma team with their positive momentum would go on to extend their lead in the 53rd minute from an incredible Lorenzo Pellegrini free kick.
Juventus looked like they forgot how to score, until the 70th minute when summer signing Manuel Locatelli converted in a beautiful Alvaro Morata cross. The Bianconeri who now seemed like an entirely different team found the surprising equalizer in the 72nd minute when Swede Dejan Kuluveski managed to smash the ball in the net. Their 4th goal of the game would not take long to come as inverted left back Mattia De Sciglio managed to keep his calm and give Juventus the shock lead.
When everyone thought that the match had cooled down, Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt got a red card for handling the ball in the penalty box and gave Roma a big chance to equalize. Captain and scorer of previous free kick Lorenzo Pellegrini stepped up but ultimately missed after a highly impressive save from Polish keeper Wojciech Szczęsny. The match ended in a dramatic Juventus win to keep their top 4 chances alive
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