In order to defeat Lazio 3-0 on Sunday and move ahead of them into third place in the Serie A standings, Juventus capitalised on their mistakes and put on another strong performance.
Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus, who have won each of their last five league games, overcame a shaky start to the season and a disappointing European campaign to take on Napoli in Turin. They enjoyed the better stretches of possession in the first half and took the lead just before halftime.
The fact that Napoli had to exert more effort to get back into the game as a result of that goal made them more vulnerable to counterattacks. With a win before the World Cup break, Juve ended Napoli’s nine-game unbeaten road streak. It was a performance that revealed the team’s regaining confidence.
As a result of their recent improvement in performance, Juve got off to a fast start inside the Allianz stadium. Youngster Nicolo Fagioli and later Arkadiusz Milik both had chances to take the lead, but their shots missed the post.
Napoli inserted themselves into the action without overly taxing Juve’s defense, but more importantly, they restrained the hosts and made every effort to slow them down. They were content to relinquish control in order to concentrate on stopping the Old Lady in the middle of the park.
After it appeared that there would be no goals at halftime, Adrien Rabiot sent a searching long ball behind the defence, where it was met by Moise Kean. Coolly lofting the ball above the charging goalkeeper Ivan Provedel, who wasn’t out fast enough, Moise Kean gave Juve the lead just before the break.
When Pedro was clean through on goal in the 52nd minute, Juan Cuadrado made an incredible recovery run to track back into his own box and stop him as Lazio desperately tried to get back into the game.
But as they pushed, Kean was once more ready and waiting to seize the opportunity to seize the break. Filip Kostic forced Provedel to make a superb low save after Milik had won the ball back high up. Provedel’s parry then fell directly into the Italian’s path, allowing him to score his second goal of the evening and fifth in as many games.
The Old Lady was able to control the game perfectly from that point on. They kept their composure in the form of a rigid defensive block and let Lazio try to score, though Maurizio Sarri’s team had little success.
The cherry on top was Milik’s goal in the final minute of regulation, which he finished easily from Federico Chiesa’s accurate low cross for 3-0.
In their final game of 2022, Juventus defeated Lazio with three points thanks to goals from Kean and Milik. This victory extended Juventus’ winning and clean-sheet streaks in Italy to six games. Without Immobile, the visitors appeared rather toothless as their front three failed to effectively link up to break down the stern Bianconeri defense, which was constantly able to win the ball back and launch a counterattack.
Both of Kean’s goals came after a change in possession, with an often-open Kostic posing a real challenge for the Biancoceleste defence and Chiesa taking advantage of the same space after his introduction to great effect. With the convincing win, Allegri’s team moves up to third, while Lazio drops to fourth.
The World Cup break comes at a bad time for Allegri’s team, which hasn’t given up in more than 500 minutes of Serie A play and has responded well to intense pressure. Lazio, on the other hand, must lick their wounds during the break because they know the loss cannot reverse prior success.
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