Higuain brace hands Juve victory
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Gonzalo Higuain hit his second
brace in as many games as Paulo Dybala- inspired Juventus warmed up for
their midweek Champions League clash against Barcelona with a shaky
2-0 win over Chievo on Saturday.
Juve's 25th win of the campaign took the Turin
giants, chasing a record sixth consecutive scudetto, nine points clear
of Roma, who face Bologna on Sunday looking to tighten their grip
on
second spot.
Juve are also set to meet Lazio in the Italian Cup
final after a 5-4 semifinal aggregate win over Napoli in midweek, when
Argentina striker Higuain scored twice in a 3-2 second leg loss at the
San Paolo stadium.
But despite seeing Dybala deliver an inspiring
performance against Chievo, coach Massimiliano Allegri will be expecting
improvements on Tuesday when Juve host Barcelona for the first time
since losing the 2015 final to the La Liga giants in Berlin.
Nevertheless, it was a defiant Allegri who fired a
preemptive strike at eventual critics looking for more of the beautiful
game from the Italian giants when he told Premium Sport: "It makes me
laugh when I read about 'spectacular football'. That's okay for the
circus, but our job is to go out and win.
"I have really good players, and it's not about
entertaining. There are dirty games sometimes, not all games are the
same. But we still have to go out and win them."
Gianluigi Buffon's 616th appearance in Serie A
meant the Juve 'keeper overtook retired Inter Milan great Javier Zanetti
(615), although he remains behind Paolo Maldini's impressive tally of
647 games.
Although he had little to do in a first half that
saw Higuain fire past Andrea Seculin from Dybala's smart cutback on 23
minutes, Chievo kept Juve running throughout.
"It was a difficult game, but we knew it would be
like that," Higuain said. "Chievo are a tough side, but we've got the
three points."
Juve were quick off the mark, but spurned several
occasions in a one-sided opening half, Seculin blocking a snapshot from
Sami Khedira before finger-tipping a powerful Dybala strike out from
under the bar after the Argentine playmaker pounced on a misplaced pass.
Minutes later, Dybala skipped past Ivan Radovanovic
and cut back for Higuain to sweep a rightfooted firsttimer inside the
far post.
But Juve were wasteful again, Khedira skewing wide
from Juan Cuadrado's cross and then Bostjan Cesar coming in to block
Cuadrado's drive from a great Dybala ball.
Buffon made his first real save shortly after the
restart when he got down low at his near post to beat away a Sergio
Pellissier effort.
But Juve were soon back in control, and still hitting wide of the target.
With his back to goal, Higuain spun to volley
inches wide and Juve were lucky when, at the other end, Roberto Inglese
rose to nod Valter Birsa's cross just over Buffon's crossbar.
A great exchange between Khedira and Dybala saw the Argentine playmaker skew narrowly wide of the far post.
Dybala hung his head in frustration, and Higuain
followed suit with a similar gesture when he fired wide of the upright
from 10 yards out after pouncing on a ball fired back into the area.
Buffon was alert to a Birsa strike from the edge of
the area, but was finally celebrating when Higuain calmed nerves with
his second of the game in the final minutes.
After Dybala's smart dribble into the box, Stephan
Lichtsteiner delivered a powerful cross across goal that Higuain
controlled before firing past the wrong-footed Seculin.
On-loan Benfica midfielder Bryan Cristante hit a
late leveller as Atalanta stayed on course to qualify for the Europa
League with a 1-1 draw at home to Sassuolo.
Gian Piero Gasperini's men will remain fifth after
the weekend even if Inter, now four points behind in sixth, beat
struggling Crotone on Sunday.
Lazio, who ousted Roma from the Italian Cup in
midweek, will close to within one point of third-placed Napoli with a
win at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday.
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