Juventus finally battered Cremonese into submission with Nicolò Fagioli and Gleison Bremer goals, but the game was overshadowed by yet another injury to Paul Pogba.
The Bianconeri rotated the squad ahead of the Europa League semi-final decider with Sevilla, although Mattia De Sciglio, Leonardo Bonucci and Kaio Jorge were injured, with Matias Soule at the Under-20 World Cup. Pogba got his first start in 390 days, since April 2022 for Manchester United against Liverpool, and Juve unveiled the new 2023-24 kit. Cremonese needed a win to close up on Spezia and Verona, but had Charles Pickel suspended, with Cyriel Dessers and Frank Tsadjout injured.
Pogba had a bright start, turning Ferrari only to have Vlad Chiriches block off the shot, but after 21 minutes he pulled up following a strike from distance and immediately seemed distraught. It was yet another injury, receiving treatment to his left knee, and went off in tears to make way for Arkadiusz Milik.
Marco Carnesecchi made a desperate double block on Gleison Bremer’s header and follow-up from a corner, then Milik couldn’t get the tap-in from a Federico Chiesa pull-back.
Chiesa’s first touch on a Fabio Miretti ball over the top was a little heavy, allowing Carnesecchi to smother, then a similar situation saw Milik chest down the Leandro Paredes pass only for the goalkeeper to flap it away.
Cremonese were entirely toothless, so introduced Daniel Ciofani and Emanuele Valeri for the restart. Juve continued to pour forward though, Adrien Rabiot forcing a save out of Carnesecchi from distance.
It eventually paid off, as Chiesa dribbled past two down the left before laying it off to the edge of the box for Fagioli to unleash a right-foot rocket into the roof of the net. It was a bittersweet moment for the midfielder against his former club.
Mattia Perin had to be alert when David Okereke anticipated Bremer, then Vlad Chiriches made a double block on Milik and Chiesa in the six-yard box.
Both Juan Cuadrado and Danilo received yellow cards, so will be suspended against Empoli next week. Milik had the ball in the net on 74 minutes, but had strayed offside on the Angel Di Maria through ball.
Rabiot did time the run correctly on another Di Maria assist, only to hit the side-netting, but Juventus did double their lead eventually. Milik flicked on a Di Maria corner and Bremer reacted quickly to the odd ricochet off a Cremonese player, nodding in from point-blank range.
It would’ve been 3-0, but Chiriches got back to clear Rabiot’s angled drive off the line with Carnesecchi beaten.
The defeat leaves Cremonese six points adrift of Spezia and Verona.
Juventus 2-0 Cremonese
Fagioli 55 (J), Bremer 79 (J)
Player statistic
| Nicolò Fagioli (Assist: Federico Chiesa) |
 |
55' | ||
| Juan Cuadrado |  |
63' | ||
| Danilo | |
66' | ||
| Bremer | |
79' |
Match statistic
