Juventus 3 - 1 Inter Milan
Tacchinardi 50' (J), Inzaghi 54' (J), Del Piero 63' (J),
Vieri 67' (penalty)
Saturday 14 Apr 2001
A crucial win for Juventus as they continue to hot up their challenge in the run in for the championship. After hearing of Roma's failure to beat Perugia at home earlier today, the Bianconeri went into this evening's game knowing that victory would take them to within only four points of the league leaders. With a spirited performance they deservedly achieved this with goals from Tacchinardi, Inzaghi and Del Piero.
Juventus started well in a game played at a high pace from the kick-off. They soon gained the upper hand in midfield but found it hard to create clear cut scoring opportunities.
After nineteen minutes Inter took advantage of a midfield error to break well, but Iuliano came across to block Vieri with a decisive tackle.
Juventus continued to attack with Zidane failing to make the most of an opportunity from a good position.
The best chance of the first half fell to Inzaghi on twenty-six minutes. Taking a through ball from Tacchinardi, he turned well but shot over from only a few yards out.
At the end of the first half the home side were still on top. Zidane and Del Piero put together a good move that ended with Zambrotta shooting just wide.
The start of the second-half saw Vieri giving the Juventus fans a nervous moment when he shot just wide, but it was the in-form Alessio Tacchinardi who broke the deadlock on fifty-one minutes giving Juventus a deserved lead. From the edge of the penalty area the midfield man hit an excellent left foot shot across Frey into the bottom corner of the goal. A great opener that clearly eased the Bianconeri's nerves.
With Inter starting to look frail at the back, Juventus took full advantage and quickly added another two goals. After fifty three minutes, Inzaghi turned his defender well on the edge of the area and shot low past Frey at his near post. The Delle Alpi exploded with joy, but it wasn't finished there. Alessandro Del Piero made the most of a pass into the centre from Inzaghi and his excellent right foot shot beat Frey, with the help of a deflection by Inter defender Blanc.
The game was over as a contest, but just four minutes later Inter pulled one back through a penalty conceded by Montero for a lunging tackle on Vieri. The ex-Juventus man got up to fire the kick home himself but it was to have no effect on the final outcome.
Both teams continued to battle, but with a series of substitutions, the game lost its rhythm and few more chances were created. In injury time O'Neill came on to make his hundredth appearance in Serie A (92 with Cagliari and 8 with Juve).
Yellow Cards:
Juventus - Davids 71', Tacchinardi 90'
Inter Milan - Jugovic 36', Di Biagio 80'
Juventus (4-3-1-2): Van der Sar; Tudor, Montero, Iuliano, Pessotto (77' Ferrara); Zambrotta, Tacchinardi, Davids; Zidane (87' Conte); Inzaghi, Del Piero (90' O'Neill)
Subs - Carini, Paramatti, Ferrara, Conte, O'Neill, Kovacevic, Fonseca
Inter Milan (4-4-2): Frey; Zanetti, Blanc, Ferrari, Serena (63' Ferrante); Brocchi, Di Biagio (84' Seedorf), Jugovic, Dalmat; Vieri, Recoba (64' Gresko)
Subs - Ballotta, Simic, Seedorf, Cauet, Pacheco, Ferrante, Hakan Sukur
Referee: Cesari
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