Juventus 1-0 AS Roma: 5 Talking Points
Juventus closed the gap on table-toppers Napoli to just a point as a Medhi Benatia strike ensured a slender 1-0 win over AS Roma at the Allianz Stadium.
Some terrible man-marking and lax defending allowed the Bianconeris to take the lead, as former Roma man Benatia found the back of the net with the second bite of the cherry, having initially struck the crossbar.
Following a sluggish opening half, Roma upped the ante in the final 20 minutes with an improved show, but failed to net the all-important equaliser.
Here are the major talking points from the high-octane Serie A clash:
#1 Ex-Romans come back to haunt Giallorossi
In what was an interesting development, three players from Juve's starting XI for the evening had played for AS Roma in the past, and Wojciech Szczesny, Miralem Pjanic and more importantly Benatia, all came back to bite their former side by engineering a vital win for their current one.
In front of the net, Szczesny belted out a terrific display of goalkeeping, pulling off a string of fine saves to consistently deny his former colleagues. In the final 20 minutes when the visitors applied the pressure, the former Roma shot-stopper held his nerve and repelled everything that they threw at him.
Pjanic, the creative genius in this Juventus side, was once again at his best, delivering a dangerous cross into the box which was eventually converted by Benatia. Benatia though damaged his former side the most, with his goal proving to be the difference between the two sides.