Juventus vs Lazio, Final Score 4-1: Juve put four past Lazio again
Juventus recorded their second victory over Lazio in less than two weeks, with a comfortable 4-1 victory at the Juventus Stadium.
Arturo Vidal's first half brace put the home side in charge. Miroslav Klose reduced the arrears before Mirko Vucinic struck the killer blow early in the second half. Hernanes was dismissed for the visitors, then Carlos Tevez added a fourth goal late on.
The two teams were meeting for the second time inside a fortnight, after Juventus thrashed Lazio 4-0 to lift the Italian Super Cup. Both sides came into the game unchanged from last weekend's matches. Paul Pogba continued to deputise for the injured Claudio Marchisio, while Lorik Cana recovered from a knock which forced him off at half time during Lazio's 2-1 victory over Udinese.
Hernanes stung Gianluigi Buffon’s palms with the game’s first chance inside the first two minutes. Juventus then asserted their dominance on the match and were denied two penalty appeals in quick succession. Vucinic controlled Andrea Pirlo’s long ball and went down under Diego Novaretti’s challenge, before Tevez seemed to be pulled back by Lorik Cana after playing a clever one-two with Vucinic.
The Juventus pressure finally paid off as Vidal opened the scoring on 14 minutes. Paul Pogba unlocked the Lazio defence with a through ball, which the Chilean ran on to and flicked past the onrushing Federico Marchetti.
Despite being pegged into their own half, Lazio showed flickers of life. Midway through the first half, Antonio Candreva’s long range effort left Buffon scrambling, before the shot stopper managed to fingertip the ball wide. From the resulting corner, Cana wasted a free header, glancing the ball across the face of goal.
Juventus doubled their advantage on 26 minutes after the Lazio defence went to sleep. Leonardo Bonucci pumped a high ball into the box from near the halfway line, Vidal cleverly timed his run and had the time to trap the ball before stroking it past Marchetti.
Just two minutes later, Lazio were handed a lifeline with a goal out of nothing. Buffon parried Hernanes’ long range effort and Klose tapped in the rebound. It was a typical poacher’s goal and the German’s first in nine attempts against the Bianconeri.
The goal looked to have turned the game and gave Lazio confidence. Stefan Radu forced Buffon to turn his effort around the post, Candreva saw a free kick whistle wide and Hernanes saw another vicious strike from distance parried on the stroke of half time.
Juventus turned the tide and regained their two goal cushion just four minutes after the restart. The strike was a carbon copy of their second goal. Another Bonucci long ball caught the Lazio defence napping once again, allowing Vucinic to run in behind Novaretti. The Montenegrin allowed the ball to bounce then took a deft touch to slip it past Marchetti.
Lazio shot themselves on the foot just past the hour. Hernanes collected a second booking for a deliberate handball in the Juventus box.
The Biancocelesti’s heads dropped and Juve smelt blood. Vidal teed Tevez up on the edge of the box, but his effort curled off the crossbar. The Argentine did find the net ten minutes from the end. Vucinic dummied the ball, allowing Tevez to pick it up and bamboozle the Lazio defence with a mazy dribble, before picking his spot to beat Marchetti from the edge of the box.
Juventus: Buffon; Barzagli, (Ogbonna 81) Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, (Isla 79) Vidal, Pirlo, Pogba, Asamoah; Tevez, Vucinic (Quagliarella 81)
Lazio: Marchetti; Cavanda, (Floccari 72) Novaretti, Cana, Radu; Gonzalez, Biglia, (Ledesma 65) Hernanes, Lulic; Candreva; Klose (Ederson 82)
Goals: Vidal 14, 26 (J) Klose 28 (L) Vucinic 49 (J) Tevez 80 (J)
Sent off: Hernanes 63 (L)
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