Showing posts with label Juventus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Juventus. Show all posts

Monday, September 20, 2021

Football: AC Milan stalemate piles on misery for Juventus

MILAN, Italy -- Juventus were left struggling in the unlikely surroundings of Serie A's bottom three on Sunday after a 1-1 draw with AC Milan kept them searching for a first league win this season.

Alvaro Morata's fourth-minute goal gave Juve the lead but Ante Rebic headed in a 76th-minute equalizer as Milan ended the weekend in second place on goal difference behind city rivals Inter who crushed Bologna 6-1 on Saturday.

Milan could have won the match in the dying moments but Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny pulled off a brilliant point-blank save to deny Pierre Kalulu.

Juventus, still reeling from the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo to Manchester United, are 18th with just two points from four games with only Cagliari and Salernitana propping them up.

Coach Massimiliano Allegri had harsh words for some of his stars.

"You have to be determined, to bring home the tackle, keep focused. This is part of the general growth process of some players," he said.

"I will admit that I made mistakes on the substitutions, I got it wrong. I should've put more defensive players on and put the 1-0 lead under lock and key, so I take responsibility for that."

Milan, missing both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud, dropped their first league points of the season.

However, they will be relieved not to have lost back-to-back games having gone down to Liverpool in the Champions League in midweek.

Spanish international Morata temporarily allowed Juventus fans to forget about Ronaldo when he sped away from Theo Hernandez before coolly slotting the ball past Mike Maignan in goal. 

Milan only threatened through three long distance attempts from Sandro Tonali in the fitst half.

But Croatian winger Rebic preserved Milan's unbeaten league start by heading in a Tonali corner with 14 minutes left.

"We came here to win the game," said Milan coach Stefano Pioli told DAZN.

"Juventus did better in the first 20 minutes, were more determined and focused, but we continued playing and did much better towards the end with chances to win, so it was overall a positive performance."

Roma dropped their first points in Serie A under Jose Mourinho as Verona came from behind to earn new coach Igor Tudor a 3-2 victory on his debut.

Lorenzo Pellegrini's clever backheel flick gave visitors Roma a half-time lead in the pouring rain as they sought a fourth successive win to start the season.

- Mourinho beaten -

Antonin Barak equalized for Verona shortly after the interval and Gianluca Caprari put the hosts ahead with a precise finish five minutes later.

Ivan Ilic turned a Pellegrini cross into his own goal to bring Roma level before the hour, but Davide Faraoni's brilliant volley secured the win for Verona to halt a run of three straight losses.

"I knew their qualities, even before the change in coach," Mourinho told DAZN.

"They'd already posed big problems to their opponents. And when there's a coaching change there's often a reaction mentally, it can happen."

Roma's city rivals Lazio needed a late goal from Danilo Cataldi to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to Cagliari.

Ciro Immobile struck for the fifth time in four games as Lazio went ahead just before the break.

Joao Pedro's looping header pegged Lazio back right at the start of the second half, with Keita Balde then firing home against his former club to put Cagliari on top.

But the Sardinian club couldn't hold on for victory in Walter Mazzarri's first game in charge as Cataldi fired into the top corner seven minutes from time to rescue Lazio.

Venezia's first Serie A home match since the 2001-02 season ended in a crushing 2-1 loss to Spezia.

Simone Bastoni curled in a sensational effort as Spezia grabbed an early lead at the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, an intriguing ground set on the south-eastern tip of Venice's main archipelago.

Pietro Ceccaroni headed Venezia level on the hour but Mehdi Bourabia's brilliant injury-time strike from distance claimed Thiago Motta's Spezia a first win.

Agence France-Presse 

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Juventus shares plunge after Champions League exit


MILAN – Shares in Italian club Juventus fell more than 17 percent in early trading on Wednesday after Cristiano Ronaldo's side were knocked out of the Champions League quarterfinals by Ajax.

Juventus shares were down 17.7 percent at 1.39 euros at 0730 GMT after plunging nearly 21 percent when trading in Milan began.

Shares in the Turin-based club had risen sharply last year following the signing of Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

A young Ajax team stunned Juventus to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 1997 as Matthijs de Ligt's second-half header secured a 2-1 second-leg victory in Italy on Tuesday.

The defeat halted Ronaldo's bid for a sixth Champions League title.

source: philstar.com

Thursday, August 23, 2018

Ronaldo says move to Juventus was 'destiny'


TURIN, Italy — For Cristiano Ronaldo, it was "destiny" to join Juventus as he tries to become only the second player to win the Champions League with three different clubs.

Ronaldo moved from Real Madrid to Juventus in the offseason in a Serie A record 112 million euro (then $131.5 million) deal.

"There are things in life that seem to be dictated by destiny and in this case it was like that," Ronaldo said in an interview with the DAZN streaming service. "I never expected to play in this team, but some things happen naturally. For me it was an easy decision, what was done in Madrid is incredible, I won everything, my family lives there, but it's part of the past. I want to try to write the story in this club."

Ronaldo failed to score on his competitive debut for Juventus, but the team still won 3-2 at Chievo Verona on Saturday (Sunday Manila time).

Still, there were positive signs with Ronaldo getting a couple of chances and linking up well with his new teammates.

"I'm very happy. The team is strong and Juve, as everyone knows, is one of the best clubs in the world," Ronaldo said. "I like how they train, their mentality. They have special methods. They are very, very professional and for this reason I feel good."

Juventus has won seven straight Serie A titles and four straight league and cup doubles, but last won the Champions League in 1996. Ronaldo has won Europe's top club tournament five times, including four of the last five, and has also scored a competition record 120 goals.

The Portugal forward first won the trophy with Manchester United in 2008. Clarence Seedorf is the only player to have won it with three different clubs.

"I want to win the Champions League with Juventus," Ronaldo said. "We'll focus on that, with my teammates, but without obsessing over it. We'll go step-by-step and then we'll see if it's this year, next year or the year after that."

Another Champions League win would also see him join Francisco "Paco" Gento as players to have won Europe's elite club competition a record six times. Gento did it between 1956 and 1966.

Ronaldo scored one of the best goals in Champions League history last season against Juventus in Turin — a spectacular overhead goal which earned him a standing ovation from the Italian team's fans.

And the 33-year-old admitted that played a part in his decision to move to Turin.

"The small details make the big difference at the end of the day so I would say what I saw in the stadium helped, to be honest," Ronaldo said. "(It) was, in my opinion, the best goal in my career so far. And, of course, when the people start to applaud me in the stadium I was like, 'Wow.'

"(It) surprised me a lot because this has never happened in my life, so was unbelievable moment."

source: philstar.com