Juventus made the most of their scoring opportunities with Moise Kean and Angel Di Maria, but managerless Spezia saw their hard work go to waste and lost Bartlomiej Dragowski to injury.
The Bianconeri had to rotate the squad after the 1-1 Europa League draw with Nantes on Thursday, and a crucial second leg coming up next week, as Federico Chiesa, Arkadiusz Milik, Fabio Miretti, Paul Pogba and Kaio Jorge were out of action. Gleison Bremer sat out a ban, with Nicolò Fagioli not fully fit. Spezia sacked Luca Gotti on Wednesday and had new chief Leonardo Semplici lined up, but he had not yet signed the contract, so Fabrizio Lorieri was on the bench as caretaker. Salvatore Esposito was banned, with Simone Bastoni, Szymon Zurkowski, Jacopo Sala, Joao Moutinho and Jeroen Zoet injured, but Ethan Ampadu and Mattia Caldara returned from suspension.
It was the worst possible start for Manuel Locatelli, who was booked after 20 seconds for a late lunge to stop a counter-attack and will be suspended for the Derby della Mole against Torino.
Daniele Verde fired at Mattia Perin after Filip Kostic was pressed into losing possession, and Dusan Vlahovic had the ball in the net only after he had wandered a long way offside.
Spezia had a scare on 18 minutes when Bartlomiej Dragowski fell clutching the top of his thigh after a goal kick and he carried on for a few more minutes before having to make way for third choice Federico Marchetti, as Zoet was also injured. This was Marchetti’s first Serie A appearance since May 2021.
Ampadu bravely charged down Kostic’s strike with his head and as the move continued Locatelli’s effort was deflected off target. From the resulting corner, Danilo’s header glanced just wide of both the far post and Dusan Vlahovic’s foot.
Marchetti conceded the opening goal, because Kostic got away down the left and Ampadu failed to cut out the cross, allowing Moise Kean to scuff his volley into the ground, the bounce taking it into the far corner.
Spezia could’ve equalised moments later, but Eldor Shomurodov’s towering header was over the bar, then another from the Uzbekistan international was captured by Perin and Emmanuel Gyasi slid in just beyond the Verde cross at the back post.
Kean nodded an Alex Sandro cross off target straight after the restart and Gyasi’s header was straight at Perin, but Danilo had to fling himself in the way of Shomurodov’s strike in the six-yard box.
It was increasingly all Spezia and Verde was unlucky to see his ferocious volley accidentally deflected by teammate Shomurodov.
They did not take their chances and Juventus did, introducing quality with not fully fit Di Maria off the bench and he made the difference with a precise snooker shot from distance into the far bottom corner, just beyond Marchetti’s fingertips.
Fagioli fired straight at Marchetti, but Perin had to make a fantastic reaction save on Emmanuel Gyasi’s first-time strike from 10 yards, using his body to parry off the line.
The goalkeeper was again called into action, flying to beat away a Nikolaou header from a corner.
Spezia 0-2 Juventus
Kean 32 (J), Di Maria 66 (J)
Player statistic
1' | Manuel Locatelli | |||
Kevin Agudelo | 16' | |||
32' | Moise Kean (Assist: Filip Kostic) |
51' | Nicolò Fagioli | |||
Arkadiusz Reca | 55' | |||
66' | Ángel Di María (Assist: Danilo) |