Juventus rally to victory, all but seal Serie A title
MILAN: Juventus fell behind to a first-half penalty before scoring three times after the break to beat Bologna 3-1 on Saturday.
The Turin side are practically assured of winning a seventh successive Serie A title after secondplaced Napoli were held 2-2 by Torino.
Juventus have a six-point lead in Serie A with two games left to play. Both teams are equal in head-to-head clashes but Juventus are well ahead of their southern rivals on goal difference.
The now need just one point to officially retain their crown with games to come against Roma in the Stadio Olimpico and alreadyrelegated Verona in Turin.
Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus would have to lose their final two matches and Napoli to achieve high-scoring wins against Sampdoria and Crotone to make up the goal difference.
Juventus capitalised on dreadful defending by the visitors. “We made life difficult for ourselves with that mix-up in the penalty area but, fortunately, we reacted well,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.
Bologna, comfortably sitting in midtable, took a shock lead in an incident which raised more questions about the use of the video assistant referee (VAR) which is being trialled in Serie A and other domestic leagues this season.
Lorenzo Crisetig was pushed over by Daniele Rugani as he intercepted a weak pass out of goal by Gianluigi Buffon and the referee pointed to the spot amid Juventus protests.
Simone Verdi stepped up for the penalty but had to wait for three minutes as the referee checked the incident with VAR officials.
There appeared to a communication problem as the referee went over to look at the pitchside monitor himself before confirming the decision. Verdi kept his cool and virtually rolled the ball into the goal as Buffon went the wrong way.
Juve were gifted an equaliser seven minutes into the second half when Bologna’s Sebastien de Maio turned Juan Cuadrado’s cross into his own goal.
Emil Krafth hit the post for Bologna but the visitors were sunk by more bad defending.
Sami Khedira headed Juve in front after goalkeeper Antonio Mirante flapped half-heartedly at a long looping Douglas Costa cross from the left and Paulo Dybala swept in the third from another Costa cross after the Brazilian won an aerial battle with Vasilis Torosidis far too easily.