Kenan Yildiz scored a great solo goal on his full Serie A debut and Dusan Vlahovic came off the bench to snatch a Juventus victory in Frosinone.
The Bianconeri needed a boost after the draw away to Genoa, but Federico Chiesa, Moise Kean, Mattia De Sciglio, Paul Pogba and Nicolò Fagioli didn’t make the trip, so 18-year-old Kenan Yildiz got his first Serie A start rather than struggling Dusan Vlahovic. The Canarini shocked Napoli 4-0 in the Coppa Italia on Tuesday, though Caleb Okoli was suspended, with Riccardo Marchizza, Sergio Kalaj Reinier, Arjon Ibrahimovic, Luca Mazzitelli and Michael Oyono injured.
It was the ideal full debut for Yildiz, who after 12 minutes gathered from Filip Kostic after a poor pass out from the back, squirmed between three defenders and smashed a powerful low strike into the near bottom corner. Once again, as he already did for Turkey, Yildiz copied Alex Del Piero’s tongue out celebration.
Yildiz tried to return the favour by sending Kostic clear on goal, but his teammate’s first touch let him down. Andrea Cambiaso was booked and will be suspended against Roma.
Enzo Barrenechea’s free kick whistled wide, but both teams lost players to muscular injuries – Alex Sandro and Pol Lirola – before the half-hour mark.
Wojciech Szczesny had to palm away a Matias Soule pull-back from the by-line and Frosinone equalised straight after the restart.
Ilario Monterisi flicked an interesting ball to send substitute Jaime Baez down the right, he cut inside and beat Szczesny from a tight angle at the near post.
Manuel Locatelli also had a fitness issue, so Max Allegri made a triple substitution. Matias Soule flashed a shot just wide of the far post, while Stefano Turati used his legs to parry from Dusan Vlahovic.
Szczesny was forced to fly in order to fingertip the viciously dipping Harroui strike over the crossbar, then McKennie came even closer with a ferocious scissor-kick volley from just inside the area that smashed against the woodwork.
Juve restored their advantage with substitute Vlahovic, who was under pressure after one goal from his last 10 games. He rose above the crowd and placed a looping header into the far top corner from McKennie’s cross.
Vlahovic thought he had made it 3-1 at the 89th minute with a powerful strike at the near post, but it was disallowed for a tight offside call by VAR.
Frosinone 1-2 Juventus
Yildiz 12 (J), Baez 51 (F), Vlahovic 81 (J)
Player statistic
12' | Kenan Yıldız (Assist: Filip Kostic) | |||
20' | Andrea Cambiaso | |||
43' | Weston McKennie |
Jaime Báez (Assist: Ilario Monterisi) |
51' | |||
81' | Dusan Vlahovic (Assist: Weston McKennie) |