Juventus wins second consecutive match in Serie A
The victory over Salernitana in the previous round partly showed that Juventus had overcome the shock of being deducted 15 points for violating financial principles. Before the unpleasant opponent Fiorentina, the host played with enthusiasm and won the minimum, to close the gap with the top 4 to 12 points.
The highlight of the game came from VAR's two cancellations in the second half, when the players who put the ball in the net were all slightly offside. Dusan Vlahovic seemed to have scored against his old team for the first time, but VAR determined the Serbian striker was offside because the top of his head was closer to the goal than the defender Milenovic.
At the last official minute of the match, the whole Fiorentina team seemed to burst when Gaetano Castrovilli shot to equalize. Juventus reacted furiously to the referee's decision to award the goal, claiming that Luca Ranieri had fouled Manuel Locatelli in the previous situation. As a result, VAR determined that Ranieri was narrowly offside and was involved in the ball phase.
In addition to the denied goals, the match saw many opportunities for both sides in a double attack. In the first half, Filip Kostic failed to eat in both corners from close range, and Locatelli also missed another clear opportunity. Fiorentina rose in the second half with Sofyan Amrabat and Luka Jovic's impressive stoppages.
The only goal came in the 34th minute, and was also determined by technology. Angel Di Maria provided an assist for Rabiot to have a header from close range. Goalkeeper Pietro Terraciano pushes the ball, but goal-line technology indicates that the ball has crossed the line.
Juventus players experienced a difficult game not only on the field. They were also under pressure from the stands when the home fans often booed, to the point where Coach Allegri got angry and shouted at the fans. Anyway, the host also won all three points to continue to raise a fragile hope in the race to win tickets to the Champions League next season. Juventus is ninth with 29 points, while Fiorentina is five places below and five points behind.
