In a very entertaining game, Juventus Turin prevailed 3-2 against Venice. The victory secured the Old Lady’s qualification for the Champions League. Venice, on the other hand, must now face relegation to the second division.
Juventus coach Igor Tudor brought on Savona and Thuram for Renato Veiga and McKennie after the 2-0 win over Udinese Calcio – and immediately saw the game start with a bang: just 70 seconds had been played when the ball flew past Turin goalkeeper Di Gregorio. On the left, Haps played a one-two with Fila in the center, who thanked him and coolly slotted home to make it 1-0. The lead gave the basement club a boost.
Venice, who fielded Sverko, Doumbia, Haps, and Fila in place of Idzes, Kike, Busio, and Oristanio compared to their 0-3 defeat at Cagliari Calcio, played courageously and confidently from then on, were present in the tackles, and all in all played well. Juve struggled and, apart from a shot from Francisco Conceicao in the 12th minute, failed to create any noteworthy chances.
Juve turns the tide
Juve didn’t really participate in the game for a long time, and then there was bad news from Turin, where city rivals Torino had fallen behind against AS Roma. The Old Lady was in danger of missing out on the Europa League, as three points were now needed. However, Juve came back into the game, albeit with a little help from Venice: Yildiz made it 1-1 when the defense fell asleep on a quick throw-in and goalkeeper Radu then made a mistake (25′).
And when Kolo Muani made it 2-1, the defense—including Radu—was once again not really up to the task (31′), putting Juve back on track and on course for the Champions League. Before the break, Venice turned up the heat again and had chances through Caviglia (34′) and Yeboah (43′), but the home side ultimately went into the break with a somewhat unfortunate deficit.
Haps shocks Juve
Juve were clearly the better side at the start of the second half. The Champions League hopefuls wanted to settle the matter quickly, but neglected to cover their bases in the 55th minute and were punished by Venice. Doumbia crossed to Haps, whose deflected shot found its way into the net to make it 2-2. With this result and Roma’s parallel victory, Juve would have finished only in fifth place.
Locatelli pushes open the door to the Champions League
But in the 72nd minute, the tide turned again when Juve loanee Caviglia brought down Conceicao in the Venice penalty area. The Portuguese gratefully accepted the foul and Locatelli confidently converted the penalty to make it 3-2 (73). In the closing stages, Juve sat back, allowing Venice to get into the penalty area a few more times, but the home side didn’t create any more clear-cut chances. A point would have been meaningless anyway due to the other results. Relegation was already sealed. Turin held on to their narrow lead and celebrated qualifying for the Champions League.
