Udinese stun toothless Juve in Serie A
Juventus are seemingly out of the race for the Serie A title, as they sank to a shock 1-0 home defeat to Udinese.
Juventus manager Maurizio Sarri is not yet ready to celebrate even though they are on the verge of winning their ninth straight Serie A title after beating Lazio 2-1 on Monday at the empty Allianz Stadium.
“We are missing four points, only after we have achieved them, will we then be able to think about the goal achieved. All the games are difficult now, and in the space of six days, we play three games… So, we must stay focused and think about securing the missing point,” Sarri said as quoted on the official website of Juventus.
As expected, Lazio gave a tough fight to Juventus and the first half went goalless. However, Ronaldo gave Juventus the lead after the half-time break. He converted a penalty in the 51st minute when a Bastos handball was confirmed by VAR.
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His and Juventus’ second came three minutes later when Paulo Dybala fed him a tap-in after a blunder from Luiz Felipe allowed the Argentine to get the possession of the ball.
Sarri lauded Ronaldo’s efforts and said, “Cristiano is an impressive player because he has the extraordinary ability to complete a quick recovery between games. Not only physically, but, above all, mentally: he is a champion with his feet, but also with his head. He has strong determination.”
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner missed the chance to score a hat-trick as his header hit the crossbar in the 66th minute.
Meanwhile, Lazio restored some pride as Ciro Immobile scored from the 12 yards spot in the 81st minute after Juventus centre-back Leonardo Bonucci had fouled him.
Juventus strengthened their hold of the top spot. With 80 points from 34 matches, they can now win the title on Thursday against lowly Udinese, or on Sunday at home against Sampdoria, depending on their rivals’ results this week.
On the other hand, Lazio, who were once considered as a title-contender this season, have dropped to fourth. After Serie A resumed following the COVID-19 hiatus, only a point separated them from Juventus, while now they are 11 points adrift of the table-toppers.
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