Juventus ease to third straight Serie A win over Sassuolo
Goals from summer signings Gonzalo Higuain and Miralem Pjanic gave Allegri’s side a 3-1 win over Sassuolo.
Juventus eased to a 3-1 home win over Sassuolo on Saturday afternoon ahead of their Champions League opener in midweek with goals from summer signings Gonzalo Higuain and Miralem Pjanic.
Higuain leads Juventus to comfortable win
Unfancied Europa League hopefuls Sassuolo were hoping cause an upset but Eusebio Di Francesco’s side were clearly outclassed by the reigning champions.
Juventus’ first came after just five minutes. Higuain latched on to compatriot Paulo Dybala’s pass on the counter attack and clinically finished past goalkeeper Andrea Consigli. The €90 million man scored a second just five minutes later, latching on to a pass from Sami Khedira and rifling home an impressive volley from inside the Sassuolo box.
The home side had their third within half an hour. Miralem Pjanic, who joined the club from Roma this summer, shot straight at Consigli but was first to the rebound to beat the keeper from close range.
Sassuolo did get one back after an uncharacteristic error from Gianluigi Buffon allowed Luca Antei to poke home a corner but ultimately the three points were never in doubt.
Allegri says Juventus can improve defensively
After the game Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri praised Higuain’s impact of on the game: “He made the difference. But we still have a lot of improvements to make and need to find the balance in our defensive game.”
“We should have defended better and managed possession better when we were 3-0 ahead. Everyone should be working to win back possession. Today we played well defensively, but we’re still looking for the DNA of our defensive game,” he added.
Di Francesco laments pre-match nerves
Sassuolo coach Eusebio Di Francesco admitted that his players were nervous before the game: “'We made a few incredible mistakes, we were naive and we didn't stick to the gameplan,” he lamented. “They had us in difficulty from the word go.”
