Bonucci puts Juve on brink of Champions with brace
Venezia deservedly levelled in the 71st minute through a superb Aramu strike but Bonucci bundled in the winner five minutes later to consign Soncin’s team to their ninth straight defeat
Leonardo Bonucci celebrated his 35th birthday by putting Juve on the brink of Champions League football with a double in Sunday’s 2-1 win over Venezia which also dealt a huge blow to the survival hopes of Serie A’s bottom team.
Italy defender Bonucci struck in each half at the Allianz Stadium to put Juve 10 points clear of fith-placed Lazio, who currently occupy the Europa League spot, while Roma are a further point back in sixth ahead of their home match with Bologna later on Sunday.
Anything but a win for Jose Mourinho’s Roma will confirm Juve’s place in Europe’s top club competition with three matches of the season remaining.
Spirited Venezia deservedly levelled in the 71st minute through a superb Matia Aramu strike.
However, Bonucci bundled in the winner five minutes later to consign Andrea Soncin’s team to their ninth straight defeat.
“We needed the win to make sure that the last three games aren’t too difficult, but Venezia deserve credit for coming here and playing open football,” said Bonucci to Sky Sport Italia.
The away side, who sacked coach Paolo Zaneti on Wednesday, are six points behind Cagliari who sit just outside the relegation zone following their home defeat to Verona on Saturday.
They have a game in hand but that comes on Thursday at in-form Salernitana, who are making a bold bid to retain their place in Serie A off the back of three straight wins and are at Atalanta on Monday night.
Earleir, Sampdoria boosted their chances of staying in Serie A on Saturday ater prevailing 1-0 in a relegation derby with local rivals Genoa, who missed a stoppage-time penalty and are now staring the drop in the face.
Abdelhamid Sabiri struck a potentially huge blow in the race for top-flight survival when he forced home the only goal of the game 24 minutes into a fraught clash at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Sampdoria were saved in the dying moments by goalkeeper Emil Audero, who pushed away Genoa captain Domenico Criscito’s spot-kick to spark taunts of “Serie B! Serie B!” from the Samp supporters as both Audero and Criscito broke down in tears for very different reasons.
“Those tears at the end just came to me, I tried to hold them back,” said Audero.
“It’s truly a dream because today we were playing for our destiny, let’s be honest... These points give us a bit of breathing room.”
The strike from Morocco-born Sabiri, who has represented Germany at under-21 level, and Audero’s save pushed Samp eight points clear of their local rivals, who sit just inside the drop zone level on 25 points with Salernitana.
How Salernitana, who have a game in hand, get on at Atalanta on Monday will be key to Samp’s hopes of staying up as the southern side are on a run of three straight wins and pushing for what would be a miraculous escape ater siting botom of the league for most of the season.
Genoa meanwhile are in deep trouble and face the increasingly real prospect of playing in Serie B for the first time since 2007.
Alexander Blessin’s side, taken over by American backers 777 Partners in September, have to play Juventus and Napoli before hosting Bologna in their final match of the season.
They are three points behind 17th-place Cagliari, who stayed firmly in the relegation fight ater first-half goals from Antonin Barak and Gianluca Caprari consigned them to a 2-1 home loss against Verona earlier on Saturday.
The Sardinian team pulled a goal back in the 57th minute through a superb free-kick from Joao Pedro but lost for the seventh time in eight games and face both Salernitana and botom team Venezia in a tight run-in.