Juventus surged into a 2-0 lead, fumbled it in the space of 72 seconds for 2-2, Dusan Vlahovic missed a penalty, but they eventually scraped a controversial 4-2 win over Sampdoria with Adrien Rabiot’s brace.
Both sides were forced to make massive changes amid an injury crisis. The hosts had Moise Kean suspended after his red card 40 seconds into his performance against Roma, plus Angel Di Maria, Federico Chiesa, Alex Sandro, Arkadiusz Milik, Paul Pogba and Kaio Jorge out of action. Samp missed Emil Audero, Sam Lammers, Michael Cuisance, Emirkhan Ilkhan, Jeison Murillo, Ignacio Pussetto, Andrea Conti and Manuel De Luca, so goalkeeper Martin Turk got his debut.
Manolo Gabbiadini should’ve done better in the opening minutes when firing wide as he’d gone clear on a ball over the top, then hit another straight at Mattia Perin after a cheap Gleison Bremer giveaway.
Bremer made up for it moments later, towering above the crowd to nod a Filip Kostic corner into the ground from seven yards for the Juventus opener.
Vlahovic was sent clear by Fabio Miretti’s through ball only to hesitate and be blocked off by Bruno Amione. The resulting corner was cleared, but Miretti put in another cross for Adrien Rabiot’s bullet header and 2-0. That was the sixth headed goal in the last eight in all competition for Juve.
Samp again failed to make the most of a defensive error, this time from Danilo when Filip Djuricic’s effort was charged down, but those warnings were not heeded by the Bianconeri.
It was an extraordinary turnaround in the space of 72 seconds. First, Medhi Leris saw his shot deflected by Danilo into the path of Tommaso Augello for a ferocious finish from 12 yards.
Moments later, Alessandro Zanoli surged down the right and pulled it back for Djuricic to flick it in from 10 yards and complete the comeback from 2-0 to 2-2, as none of the defenders had followed his run ghosting in from the back.
The crowd turned rapidly, jeering and complaining, especially as Samp started to keep more possession and take control. Turk also ran a big risk rushing out to anticipate Vlahovic, with penalty appeals waved away, but Juve went off at half-time to loud boos from their own fans, as Samp were doing more of the attacking.
Another Bremer header on a corner was this time deflected wide, but Nicolò Fagioli received a very harsh yellow card when he seemed to tackle Djuricic cleanly.
A Leris glancing header flashed wide on the Tomas Rincon cross, but Rabiot restored Juve’s lead. He sprinted forward, was blocked off, then controlled the Fagioli pass with his chest to blast into the roof of the net. Samp protested that there was handball, but the footage was not considered clear enough for VAR to overturn the decision.
Moments later, Juan Cuadrado was brought down by Augello after a dummy and the referee pointed to the spot. Vlahovic stepped up and blasted the penalty against the upright, letting off the teenage debutant goalkeeper.
Turk parried a Matias Soule strike and the Vlahovic follow-up was deflected by Amione, then Turk made a great save to push the Cuadrado effort onto the crossbar.
It remained open, Gabbiadini’s header off target and Soule’s attempt skimming the far top corner. Deep into stoppages, Vlahovic’s header on a Kostic cross was brilliantly fingertipped onto the woodwork by Turk, but Soule turned in the rebound for his debut Serie A goal.
Juventus 4-2 Sampdoria
Bremer 11 (J), Rabiot 26, 64 (J), Augello 31 (S), Djuricic 32 (S), Soule 94 (J)
Missed penalty: Vlahovic 69 (J)
Player statistic
Bremer (Assist: Filip Kostic) |
11' | |||
Adrien Rabiot (Assist: Fabio Miretti) |
26' | |||
31' | Tommaso Augello | |||
32' | Filip Djuricic (Assist: Alessandro Zanoli) | |||
40' | Tomás Rincón |
Nicolò Fagioli | 58' | |||
Adrien Rabiot (Assist: Nicolò Fagioli) |
64' | |||
Dusan Vlahovic | 69' | |||
Matìas Soulé | 90+4' |