First-half blitz hands Juventus season-opening away win
As far as ways to start a season go, Udinese’s was down there amongst the worst. Not even two minutes were on the clock when a loose Udinese pass was pounced upon by Dusan Vlahovic, who retained his composure and slipped in Federico Chiesa, with the Italian making no mistake in firing Juventus ahead.
Vlahovic was then rewarded for his unselfishness mid-way through the first half, when Festy Ebosele handled in the area, and duly gave the Serbian a chance to double their advantage from 12 yards.
Juve’s €80 million man made no mistake.
Udinese’s first-half offerings were few and far between, but Florian Thauvin’s performance was a lone bright spot in a tough first half for Il Zebretti.
And he was perhaps unlucky not to have halved the arrears before the break, as his stinging drive was smartly stopped by Wojciech Szczesny.
Juventus remained firmly on top though, and instead of letting Udinese back into proceedings, the Bianconeri all but ended the game as a contest.
A pinpoint Andrea Cambiaso ball afforded Adrien Rabiot the simplest of tasks to head home from close range.
Despite the fact that only Bologna picked up more points from losing positions in league games than Udinese last season, overturning a three-goal deficit was always likely to be a tall order, but that didn’t deter them from trying.
Lazar Samardzic’s wicked strike from distance again forced Szczesny into action, though the hosts’ best chance to set up a potential comeback fell to Sandi Lovric. Yet, despite being afforded the freedom of Udine, he couldn’t direct his header goalwards.
Vlahovic had the ball in the back of the net again ten minutes from time, but the offside flag spared Udinese from yet more humiliation.
Having been banned from continental action for a year, the pressure is on Juve to get back amongst Europe’s elite for next season, and this represents the perfect start on the road to achieving that quest.
As for Udinese, it’s the seventh season in eight that they’ve started a Serie A campaign without a win, with the clear gulf in class raising further doubts over whether they can break their mid-table mediocrity curse.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Adrien Rabiot (Juventus)
