Juventus leapfrog Lazio into second place with a very important victory in Bergamo, as Samuel Iling-Junior celebrates his first Serie A start with a debut goal and Atalanta are twice denied by the woodwork.
This was a potentially crucial showdown for the top four with a lot at stake for both sides. La Dea were coming off three consecutive victories, but Rasmus Hojlund, Ademola Lookman, Jose Luis Palomino, Matteo Ruggeri and Hans Hateboer were out of action. The Bianconeri made the trip without Mattia De Sciglio, Kaio Jorge and suspended Leandro Paredes, so Iling-Junior got his first Serie A start.
These teams drew 3-3 back in January and Juve’s last league win over Atalanta was back in 2019.
Angel Di Maria looked a gift horse in the mouth when Teun Koopmeiners gave it away on the edge of the area, but Fideo’s curler was wide of the target.
Arkadiusz Milik’s glancing header went past the far post, but Giorgio Scalvini went even closer on a Koopmeiners corner, nodding it onto the upright.
Atalanta had a triple scoring opportunity on a single corner, as Rafael Toloi, Marten de Roon and Davide Zappacosta all had attempts charged down.
There were also two penalty appeals waved away after VAR silent checks, as the Manuel Locatelli and Daniele Rugani arms were in natural positions flush to the body.
On the stroke of half-time, Mario Pasalic ballooned over the bar when unmarked from 12 yards in a huge wasted chance.
Atalanta were made to pay for that, as Juve took the lead after the restart with the first goal for Iling-Junior. He started the move too, winning back the ball with a crunching tackle on Zappacosta and sending Adrien Rabiot down the left, the pull-back for Milik was intercepted by Joakim Maehle, but only as far as Iling-Junior to smash into the roof of the net from close range.
The 19-year-old becomes only the third English player to score for Juventus in Serie A, the first since David Platt in 1992-93.
There was more bad news for the hosts, as substitute Jeremie Boga had to be carried away with a sprained ankle, then Paul Pogba tested Marco Sportiello from distance.
Luis Muriel drilled a couple of opportunities off target, then Wojciech Szczesny got down to beat away a Koopmeiners daisy-cutter of an indirect free kick.
Atalanta pinned Juve back as they poured forward in search of an equaliser, Maehle drilling wide, but Sportiello denied Dusan Vlahovic’s counter-attack and Zappacosta saw his strike thump the base of the near post from outside the box.
In the final seconds of the game, Federico Chiesa broke on the counter and set up Vlahovic to smash into the top corner from the edge of the area. The Serbian was fired up and furious after several minutes of racist chants aimed at him and he reacted angrily after the goal, but resisted further inflaming the situation.
Atalanta 0-2 Juventus
Iling-Junior 56 (J), Vlahovic 97 (J)
Player statistic
| 56' |  |
Samuel Iling Junior | ||
| 62' |  |
Adrien Rabiot | ||
| Joakim Maehle | |
90+1' | ||
| 90+8' | |
Dusan Vlahovic (Assist: Federico Chiesa) | ||
| 90+10' | |
Dusan Vlahovic |
Match statistic
