Perugia 0 - 1 Juventus
Filippo Inzaghi 58'
Sunday 21 Jan 2001
Juve managed to at least dull the painful memories of the last match they
played at the Renato Curi stadium by beating Perugia by the same margin as
they lost by last season thanks to a great goal for Filippo Inzaghi. The
strike in the 59th minute marks his 50th goal in the League for the
Bianconeri and though long in coming was well worth the wait.
The home side will complain that it came when the impressive Marco Materazzi
was off the pitch receiving treatment for a foul by Zinedine Zidane, but
they will not be able to dispute it's quality. Perugia also have a great
performance from Mazzantini between the posts to thank for the tight result.
The game began with Perugia pushing forward looking for the all-important
opener, with shots from Luca Saudati and the South Korean Ahn, whose
influence grew as the match went on, but the finishing was rarely good
enough to trouble Edwin Van der Sar.
Paolo Montero had a solid game at the back, while Edgar Davids had a battle
on his hands against Blasi and Ze Maria in particular in the centre of the
park for Serse Cosmi's outfit.
It took the Bianconeri the best part of 20 minutes to fashion a chance for
themselves, and it came courtesy of David Trezeguet who Gianluca Zambrotta
found in space on the edge of the box. But the Frenchman fired straight at
Mazzantini.
Then on 25 minutes Perugia responded with a close range header from their
Greek striker Vryzas, after Saudati did well to float a ball in over the
Juve back-line. Van der Sar was able to take the ball without undue worry.
The second half of the half was dominated by the Bianconeri, with Zambrotta,
Zidane and Inzaghi all getting chances. But with Materazzi doing an
excellent job at the back and the Perugia keeper providing a spectacular
display of shot stopping, the half finished all-square at 0-0.
Juve began the second half by raising a gear, with Perugia not able to get
into the visitors half for the first six minutes. In the 48th minute Zidane
put a ball narrowly wide from a free-kick, while five minutes later Ahn
reminded Carlo Ancelotti's lads that Perugia were not mere spectators, by
firing a shot that Van der Sar did well to keep out.
Then in the 58th minute a clash in the air between Zidane and Perugia's
central defender, Materazzi, saw the Perugia man hobble off with a dead-leg.
He then found himself standing on the sidelines as Davids slipped a ball
through from the midfield to Inzaghi who then struck a ball under the
on-rushing Perugia keeper to make it 50 for himself and 1-0 for Juve.
At that point Juve, clearly in the ascendancy, and Inzaghi buzzing with his
half century of goals in the bag, the number 9 first tried a scissor-kick
(just wide) and then a volley from a pass from Zidane (just high).
Perugia pushed forward and procured a couple of free-kicks on the edge of
the box. First Materazzi stepped up, and the resulting ricochet off Alessio
Tacchinardi's arm in the wall brought howls of "penalty!" from Perugia. But
arguably it would have been hard for the Juve man to pull his arm away given
the pace of the shot. The second free-kick from Ze Maria did no better.
The final shot of the game fell to Antonio Conte who came on for Trezeguet.
The Juve captain who had been suffering with the flu most of the week showed
that he had fully recovered with a 35-yard shot which almost crept in
between the keepers outstretched arm and the crossbar. But once again the
ex-Gianluca Pagliuca understudy at Inter Milan kept the shot out.
Now the Bianconeri and the rest of the chasing pack will be hoping that
Milan do everyone a favour in the evening fixture at the San Siro to slow
down the progress of Fabio Capello's lads. The gap between Roma and Juve
before the evening game is down to three points.
Yellow Cards:
Perugia - Blasi, Tarana
Juventus - Montero, Zambrotta
Perugia (3-4-1-2): Mazzantini; Rivalta (77 Tarana), Materazzi, Di Loreto; Paris, Ze Maria, Blasi, Pieri; Ahn; Vryzas, Saudati
Subs - Tardioli, Sogliano, Hilario, Milanese, Goretti, Tarana
Juventus (4-3-2-1):Van der Sar; Birindelli (64 Paramatti), Montero, Iuliano, Pessotto; Zambrotta, Tacchinardi, Davids; Zidane; Inzaghi (86 Kovacevic), Trezeguet (74 Conte)
Subs - Carini, Ferrara, Paramatti, O'Neill, Conte, Del Piero, Kovacevic
Referee: Collina
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