Manuel Locatelli’s precise strike in the final minutes gave Juventus the Derby della Mole, but Torino will regret wasting their first half dominance.
Both these city rivals had injury problems, above all in attack, where Andrea Belotti, Simone Zaza, Marko Pjaca, Dennis Praet, Simone Edera and suspended Koffi Djidji missed out for the Granata. The Bianconeri were without Alvaro Morata, Paulo Dybala and Aaron Ramsey, but had Arthur Melo and Kaio Jorge back on the bench, but Moise Kean started with support from Federico Chiesa and Federico Bernardeschi after the midweek 1-0 win in Chelsea.
Kean had an early counter that he fired wide, while Weston McKennie and Wilfred Singo had efforts off target, but Sasa Lukic came so close with his free header whistling just wide from a very long Ola Aina throw-in on 21 minutes.
Toro began to take control as time wore on, pinning Juve back into their own half, Wojciech Szczesny flying to palm away a Rolando Mandragora rocket from distance and Singo’s strike charged down by Rabiot.
Juve had one other counter just before half-time, Chiesa unable to get on the end of the Kean roll across the six-yard box, but the half concluded with 39.5 per cent possession and zero shots on target.
Max Allegri removed Kean and moved Chiesa to a centre-forward role for the restart, which proved effective, as Vanja Milinkovic-Savic had to make his first save on an Alex Sandro bullet header.
Giorgio Chiellini needed a last-ditch tackle on Lukic and Juve had penalty appeals waved away for Tommaso Pobega bundling into the back of Juan Cuadrado, as the referee thought the Colombian had slowed down intentionally.
Rabiot pulled back from the by-line for Chiesa, intercepted by a crucial Cristian Ansaldi defensive intervention.
Juve were pushing further forward as the game wore on and Torino once again conceded in the final 15 minutes, as Chiesa set up Locatelli on the edge of the box for a precise right-foot strike that went in off the inside of the upright, giving Milinkovic-Savic no chance.
Manuel Locatelli strikes late for Juventus in the Turin derby!
It’s a lovely finish from the Italian midfielder 🎯 pic.twitter.com/H1L2xAaCUk
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 2, 2021
Dejan Kulusevski almost added another moments later, his effort thumping the base of the same post, but this time going out.
Not only was this a big victory for Juve, but also their first Serie A clean sheet since March, ending a run of 20 consecutive Serie A matches conceding.
Torino 0-1 Juventus
Locatelli 86 (J)
I didn’t like our performance tonight that much, but Loca was amazing both defensively and offensively. He and Chiesa are my favorite juventinis right now. One thing I have to say is that I can’t believe how Allegri is so stubborn to insist on playing Bernadeschi when he’s underperforming. Although I liked to see he changed the mid a bit by adding McKennie and snubbing Bentancur (who was playing terrible football all this time).
I didn’t get why Kean was subbed by halftime. I would have subbed off Bernadeschi and put in Kulusevski earlier and made a more offensive approach of a 4-3-3.
Agree 100% with the previous comment. Allegri likes specific players. More accurately, players who just follow his tactical plans and not necessarily play good football. So he plays both Benatcur and Bernadeschi despite how terrible both are.
Allegri played ugly football for the last 10 min. The players going to the corner to waste time and win another corner or get fouled. This kind of technical play he does. Does it work? Sometimes. Does it bring championships? Maybe serie A at best. Does it bore the hell out of you? Absolutely
Kean was subbed off as he could not hold the ball up and was giving the ball away with every first touch. Allegri did not get to choose the players as you cannot offload players with huge salaries who are under contract. We must be patient, the dead wood will be replaced and until he gets the players needed then we can judge. Torino have also been in decent form so far and Juric looks like a good coach. We got the win by hook or by crook. At least we have kept a second clean sheet and we must hope that the Chelsea game was a stepping stone in the right direction.
@Brazilian, calm down. Look at Sczesny now and before? Do you see any difference? Yes? Now, can you see what will happen if Bernaderschi given time and trust to regain his form? C’mon… (What happen with this new generation of fans??!!). FYI, Mc Kennie was trash. Bentancur is better compares to Mc Kennie’s performance in the derby. I’m sorry for being rude but this is not FIFA, this is real football and Juve players need strong person to coach them, a leader who knows what to do to improve his players.
@EL CID How come do you think I’m a new generation fan? I don’t even play FIFA. Bernardeschi hasn’t played well for quite a long while. I agree that McKennie wasn’t playing well either, he missed two good chances out there, but Bentancur was missing sideway passes and making plenty of silly fouls. We need to rotate some players and see who is going to perform better.
Kulusevski should be given a chance over Bernardeschi on the starting line-up. Everytime he us subbed in he was dangerous enough to earn more play time.