Juventus have done well in the battle for a Champions League ticket by putting aside low-flyer Venezia at home. La Vecchia Signora won by two goals from the year-old Leonardo Bonucci: 2-1. The win puts number four Juventus now ten points above number five, Lazio. Venezia, where Ridgeciano Haps was allowed to appear as left back, is still the last in Serie A due to the defeat, which is now six points behind the virtually safe seventeenth place.
Juventus, with Matthijs de Ligt in the base, shot off the starting blocks. After missed opportunities for Denis Zakaria (who saw his shot go just over the goal) and Luca Pellegrini (who saw his attempt land on the crossbar), it was a hit for the home side in the seventh minute. De Ligt headed the ball back at the far post after a free kick by Fabio Miretti and managed to find Bonucci’s head, who then managed to beat goalkeeper Niki Mäenpää from close by: 1-0. The year-old Bonucci thus scored his fourth goal of the season.
After the goal of the 35-year-old defender, Juventus’ storm passed and it was Venezia that became dangerous. The visitors let the ball pass well and saw Mattia Aramu miss a good chance. Thomas Henry received the ball in the box from Michaël Cuisance and managed to find Aramu, but the attacker fired straight at goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. On the other side it was Miretti who caused danger, but the starting debutant saw his effort end up wide. The game went up and down and after a missed chance from Henry it was after half an hour on behalf of Juventus Federico Bernardeschi who managed to get the ball at Álvaro Morata.
The Spaniard cleverly made room for a shot by keeping two defenders off the ball, but couldn’t get the ball into the small space and shot wide. Great opportunities were no longer created before the break and thus sought the old lady with a minimal lead into the locker room. After small chances back and forth, it was Aramu who rightly equalized the visitors in the 71st minute. After the attacker had destroyed two more chances in a few minutes, the attacker struck wonderfully with his third. Dor Peretz, who came in a few minutes before, put the ball with his chest ready for Aramu, who fired hard from about 23 meters from the goal and managed to beat Szczesny: 1-1.
Juventus seemed shaken awake and successfully went looking for the lead. Five minutes after the equalizer, it was again the year-old Bonucci who managed to find the goal. The defender was able to work in from close range after Danilo headed a corner towards the goal. Mäenpää made a mistake after which the defender was able to put the ball against his foot and so scored his second goal of the afternoon: 2-1. With defender Giorgio Chiellini in the squad for Dusan Vlahovic, trainer Massimiliano Allegri hoped to win the game. Venezia trainer Andrea Soncin tried to force the equalizer by bringing in David Okereke and Maximilian Ullmann, but his team was no longer able to do so.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | † | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AC Milan | 34 | 22 | 8 | 4 | 30 | 74 |
| 2 | Internazionale | 34 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 44 | 72 |
| 3 | Napoli | 35 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 36 | 70 |
| 4 | Juventus | 35 | 20 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 69 |
| 5 | Lazio | 35 | 17 | 8 | 10 | 17 | 59 |
| 6 | AS Roma | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 15 | 58 |
| 7 | Fiorentina | 34 | 17 | 5 | 12 | 8 | 56 |
| 8 | Atalanta | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 18 | 55 |
| 9 | Hellas Verona | 35 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 52 |
| 10 | Sassuolo | 35 | 12 | 10 | 13 | -1 | 46 |
| 11 | Torino | 34 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 44 |
| 12 | Udinese | 34 | 10 | 13 | 11 | 1 | 43 |
| 13 | Bologna | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | -9 | 42 |
| 14 | empoli | 34 | 9 | 10 | 15 | -17 | 37 |
| 15 | sampdoria | 35 | 9 | 6 | 20 | -15 | 33 |
| 16 | special | 35 | 9 | 6 | 20 | -26 | 33 |
| 17 | Cagliari | 35 | 6 | 10 | 19 | -32 | 28 |
| 18 | Salernitana | 33 | 6 | 7 | 20 | -42 | 25 |
| 19 | Genoa | 35 | 3 | 16 | 16 | -30 | 25 |
| 20 | Venice | 34 | 5 | 7 | 22 | -35 | 22 |