On the occasion of the 16th day of Serie A, Luciano Spalletti’s Juventus hosted Gian Piero Gasperini’s AS Roma for a highly anticipated top-of-the-table shock this Saturday evening. The two teams arrived in full swing, each remaining on two consecutive victories in all competitions. Roma had notably just won against Como, while the Old Lady had dominated Bologna last weekend. For this poster, Spalletti lined up Openda at the forefront, supported by Kenan Yildiz, with Khéphren Thuram in midfield and Kalulu in defense. Opposite, Roma relied on Paulo Dybala, aligned up front against his former club, while Manu Koné was aligned in the Roman midfield.
Long balanced, the match swung in favor of Juventus just before the break. In the 44th minute, Francisco Conceição opened the scoring and allowed his team to take the lead. More enterprising in the second half, Juve made the break through Openda in the 70th minute. Roma, however, reignited the suspense 5 minutes later thanks to Baldanzi (75th), pushing all the way to snatch the equalizer. In vain. Solid, Juventus held on and finally won (2-1). In the Serie A standings, this success allows the Bianconeri to move up to 5th place, just one point behind AS Roma, still 4th.
