Fiorentina 0-3 Juventus: match report
Goals from Rodrigo Bentancur, Giorgio Chiellini and Cristiano Ronaldo handed the leaders a regulation victory against Fiorentina.
Juventus maintained their status as the only unbeaten side across Europe’s top five leagues with a 3-0 defeat of Fiorentina in the Stadio Artemio Franchi and opened up an 11-point lead over Napoli at the top of Serie A as the march of Massimiliano Allegri’s team to an eighth straight Scudetto gathered steam.
Fiorentina went into the game as underdogs, a run of five draws and failure to score more than once in a game since a 2-0 win over Atalanta in September hardly the basis for an overdose of optimism in Florence with Serie A’s victory artists rolling into town.
The home side suffered from a lack of precision in the movement of the ball and were hampered by Giovanni Simeone’s isolation up front despite the best efforts of Federico Chiesa to link the midfield and attack, drifting into wide positons and causing Juve more headaches than the rest of his team could muster.
Fiorentina no match for champions elect Juventus
Juve keeper Wojcjech Szczesny occsasionally had his gloves warned occasionally on a chilly evening but was rarely in danger of surrendering a clean sheet, his five saves on the night being mostly regulation and the greatest threat he faced coming from a defensive mix-up and a ricochet off the onrushing Edmilson.
At the other end, Alban Lafont had a busier evening. Juve’s first was no fault of the French keeper, Rodrigo Bentancur slicing through the Fiore back four and burying a crisp effort into the far corner but the visitor’s second was a cruel blow after Lafont had kept his side in it with a sprawling stop from a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick. Having parried a shot, the Fiore number one watched helplessly from the deck as the ball spiralled up, evaded two defenders and the head of the Portuguese and then bounced in at the far post with backspin worthy of a Wimbledon final.
Juve’s victory was practically assured from there – no side since Chievo have managed to score twice against Allegri’s side in the league and that was on the opening weekend – but a handball in the area by Edmilson applied the final nail. Ronaldo, who needs little invitation to step up, duly dispatched an unstoppable shot into the top corner to complete a routine victory and send Juve even further clear at the top of the table, from where it seems increasingly unlikely they will be dislodged between now and May.