MILAN: Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo scored his first goal for Serie A champions Juventus in a 2-0 win over Bologna on Sunday to pile the pressure on the Milan teams.
Andrea Pirlo’s side bounced back from last weekend’s 2-0 league defeat by Inter Milan, and followed on from their morale-boosting Italian Super Cup triumph over Napoli midweek.
AC Milan held the top spot in Serie A on Saturday despite falling 3-0 at home against Atalanta after second-placed Inter were held to a goalless draw at Udinese. Roma are third after a 4-3 win over Spezia on Saturday with Juventus moving fourth ahead of Atalanta into the Champions League berths, seven points behind AC Milan with a game in hand.
Juventus dominated 13th-placed Bologna in Turin with Arthur breaking through after quarter of an hour with a long-range shot that took a big deflection off Bologna defender Jerdy Schouten. It was the first goal for the ex-Barcelona player in 19 appearances since joining Juventus last summer from the La Liga side in a transfer worth up to 82 million euros ($99 million).
US midfielder Weston McKennie got the second on 71 minutes nodding in off a corner, for his fourth goal in 21 games since moving from Bundesliga side Schalke. “McKennie is always in the right place, he has great vision,” said Pirlo, hailing an “important” win after last week’s defeat to Inter in the San Siro.
“We are a strong team, it all depends on us. As we demonstrated in the Super Cup we are not the team seen in the San Siro. “We did well in the first half but if you don’t manage to close it, the games always remain in the balance.”
Bologna could have suffered more but for goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski denying Adrien Rabiot and Cristiano Ronaldo in the final four minutes, having also been decisive in the first half.
— AFP
Italian Serie A results
On Sunday:
Juventus 2 (Arthur 15, McKennie 71) Bologna 0
On Saturday
Roma 4 (Mayoral 17, 52, Karsdorp 55, Pellegrini 90+2) Spezia 3 (Piccoli 24, Farias 59, Verde 90)
AC Milan 0 Atalanta 3 (Romero 26, Ilicic 53-pen, Zapata 77)
Udinese 0 Inter Milan 0
Fiorentina v Crotone (1945)
Fiorentina 2 (Bonaventura 20, Vlahovic 32) Crotone 1 (Simy 66)
On Friday
Benevento 2 (Viola 31, Lapadula 49) Torino 2 (Zaza 51, 90+3)
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
