Juventus move 12 points ahead in Serie A

Pescara put up a brave fight but Juventus take win into their crucial Champions League quarter-final against Bayern.

JUVENTUS vs PESCARA
Montenegrin forward Mirko Vucinic (up) celebrates his goal with head coach Antonio Conte (R) [EPA]

A brace from Mirko Vucinic helped Juventus to a 2-1 victory over a heroic Pescara and a 12-point lead over Napoli in Italy’s Serie A on Saturday.

Four days ahead of a crucial Champions League quarter-final second leg at home to Bayern Munich, Juventus – with 59 goals boasting the league’s best attack prior to this fixture – were up against the league’s bottom side, who had shipped 61 in 30 games.

And the loss of defenders Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini, through suspension, and ‘keeper Gianluigi Buffon, who was suffering from flu, never looked likely to give the visitors any hope of scoring an upset.

Under attack throughout, Pescara had ‘keeper Ivan Pelizoli to thank for keeping a clean sheet until Vucinic scored from the penalty spot on 72 minutes.

The Montenegrin added a second minutes later, however the hosts were pegged back by a superb 25-metre drive from Emmanuel Cascione which sailed over the flailing arms of Marco Storari and into the net on 83 minutes.

Juve started strongly and should have had several goals in the first half hour as they set up camp in Pescara’s end.

Their first opportunity came after 12 minutes when Swiss midfielder Stephan Lichsteiner’s cross found Emanuele Giaccherini, but Pelizzoli stopped his flying effort on the volley.

Four minutes later Pelizzoli was forced into action again to stop Sebastian Giovinco after the striker collected Arturo Vidal’s pass on the right.

Vucinic then broke through on goal but prodded the ball too far. Barely two minutes later an inch-perfect ball across goal found Vidal unmarked but his volley was blocked by Pelizzoli.

Penalised

Juve went in for the break frustrated but that was to continue after the restart, with Vucinic missing a great chance for the opener from Kwadwo Asamoah’s cross when he spun his volley wide with the goal at his mercy.

Striker Fabio Quagliarella, who replaced Giovinco on the half hour, then forced a parry from Pelizzoli after volleying a wayward header from a defender.

Vidal then tested Pelizzoli with a drive through traffic from 20 metres but his effort was straight at the keeper. Moments later Pelizzoli got down low to block Vucinic’s angled drive from close range.

From a corner Leonardo Bonucci rose to meet the ball but his header flashed wide.

Juve came even closer when Vucinic worked the ball through the defence and sent Giaccherini through on the right, but his pass across goal towards Quagliarella was thwarted by a diving Pelizzoli.

Juve had to rely on a penalty to finally beat the ‘keeper, Vucinic stepping up to slot home after Giuseppe Rizzo saw red for impeding Vidal in the box.

Vucinic celebrated in unconventional fashion, taking off his shorts – instead of his shirt – and waving them around his head, earning him a yellow card.

Six minutes later Vucinic doubled Juve’s lead from open play, skipping past Bianchi Arce before curling a superb right-foot shot round Pelizzoli from eight yards.

Juve looked to be heading for more when Alessandro Matri, who replaced Vucinic late on, fired wide from a good position.

Minutes later Matri lost possession, sparking a counter-attack from Pescara which allowed Cascione to unleash his superb goal.

Napoli can restore their nine-point deficit when they host Genoa on Sunday, when third-placed Milan are away at Fiorentina.

Source: AFP