Nicolò Fagioli admits the goal against Cremonese almost overwhelmed him, but he reserves a thought for injured teammate Paul Pogba. ‘He’s an idol, I’ve been watching him since I was a kid.’
The Bianconeri dominated possession in Turin and seemed relatively toothless for much of it, until Fagioli blasted into the roof of the net from the edge of the area on a Federico Chiesa lay-off.
“It was a very difficult first half, as Cremonese defended well and then went on the counter. We had to find the breakthrough and change the game,” Fagioli told DAZN.
He grew up in the Cremonese youth academy and was on loan with them last season, contributing to their surprise promotion from Serie B into the top flight, so he refused to celebrate.
“At the start, I was celebrating because I hadn’t scored in a long time, but then I remembered I had scored against Cremonese and I stopped myself. I went to salute the fans after the final whistle, as last season was fantastic with them.”
Gleison Bremer made sure of the points late on with his header from point-blank range after a deflected corner, while Adrien Rabiot was denied a goal by the Vlad Chiriches clearance.
However, the 2-0 win was overshadowed by a quadricep injury to Pogba, who was having his first start in 390 days and lasted just 22 minutes.
“We were all so very happy to have him back from the start, especially for me because he is an idol and I’ve been watching him play since I was a kid. It’s terribly sad he had this relapse, we hope it is nothing serious and he has a quick recovery.”
The victory allows Juve to consolidate second place on 69 points, but if they are indeed docked nine points by the Federal Court of Appeal on May 22, it would have them in sixth position.
Now their focus turns to the Europa League semi-final against Sevilla, where it is all to play for after a 1-1 draw in Turin.
“Now we must go there, play to win and go to Budapest, that is our objective.”