Then came Milik’s header, mistakes in the VAR booth and red cards galore. Sepe parried Bonucci’s attempt but the Juventus player did well to hook home the rebound. The hosts huffed and puffed but still were on course for defeat until a clumsy challenge from Tonny Vilhena gifted them a penalty of their own in the 91st minute.
The same striker had earned the opportunity when his shot struck Gleison Bremer’s hand after more direct play down the right.īremer got Juventus back into the game with a thumping header at the start of the second half, but Salernitana did not wilt. The second came from the penalty spot, Krzysztof Piatek converting in first-half injury time. Repeatedly they caught Juventus out with long balls, and it was a raking right-to-left pass from Dylan Bronn that found Pasquale Mazzocchi, who performed a triple stepover to freeze Weston McKennie before whipping in a cross for Candreva to score at the back post. Never in their history had Salernitana held a two-goal advantage away at half-time in a Serie A match, yet this was richly deserved. There were officially 1,300 packing out the away section, but a fair few more whose allegiance became evident as their team roared to an early lead. Salernitana’s traveling support provided a contrast. The lack of enthusiasm for this team was evident from empty seats at the Allianz Stadium. As Allegri reiterated: “We don’t need to be pretty, likable losers, but unpleasant winners.” Fail to triumph, though, and you are left with the worst of both worlds. The re-hiring of Allegri last summer was supposed to mark a return to the “just win” mentality of the 2010s, an abandonment of the idealism that led the club to hire Maurizio Sarri and Andrea Pirlo. Still, there is anxiousness among supporters. Photograph: Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images In 2015-16, they picked up five points from their opening six games, yet finished on 91.Īrkadiusz Milik of Juventus celebrates after believing he had won the game for Juventus. Juventus won five of their nine consecutive league titles during his previous tenure, but did not always start fast in those seasons, either. Despite scoring four in his first four league games, and having another goal correctly disallowed for offside on Sunday, Vlahovic has often looked isolated in attack.Īllegri had appealed for patience in his pre-game press conference, reminding reporters that Paul Pogba, Ángel Di María and Federico Chiesa were all injured and contending that a whole new season would begin after the World Cup.
Perceived as a backup to Dusan Vlahovic, another tall and muscular No 9 who can fill a similar role, Milik’s fast start may increase calls for the two to play together. He has known mixed fortunes since leaving Napoli to join the French club last year, prolific patches interspersed with dry runs and niggling injuries. The Polish striker has been a bright note in this disappointing start to the season for Juventus, joining on loan from Marseille at the end of the transfer window and scoring in each of his two previous league appearances. He posted a video showing Candreva’s position to his social media channels on Sunday, saying he had “no words”. None of them may serve their suspensions as unhappily as Milik: sent off for celebrating a wrongly disallowed goal. A bench-clearing scuffle resulted in further red cards for Juventus’s Juan Cuadrado and Salernitana’s Federico Fazio, as well as Allegri himself. One controversy became submerged in the next. Less debatable was the fact this camera angle was the wrong one – completely missing Antonio Candreva, who had moved out towards the corner flag and was playing everyone onside. There is a discussion to be had on this, given the ball already appeared to be beyond the reach of goalkeeper Luigi Sepe. In Marcenaro’s interpretation, Bonucci was interfering with play. The Juventus player had tried, unsuccessfully, to get a touch. Marcenaro was sent to the monitor and shown footage of Leonardo Bonucci behind the Salernitana defence as Milik headed across goal from a corner.
And then, it was taken away from them by a VAR review. Milik’s goal felt like a turning point, Juventus recovering from two goals down, rediscovering the trait that used to define them: the ability to just win when they did not deserve to.
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