Juventus manage comfortable victory in Allegri’s milestone

Rome, Jan. 16 (IANS): Massimiliano Allegri marked his 300th games on Juventus’ bench with a comfortable victory, as they beat Udinese 2-0 with a pair of strikes from Paulo Dybala and Weston McKennie.

Juventus had suffered a 2-1 SuperCoppa defeat to Inter Milan in mid-week and entered Allianz Stadium on Saturday evening without Federico Chiesa, Leonardo Bonucci, Danilo, and Aaron Ramsey but had Matthijs De Ligt and Juan Cuadrado back from suspension, while Udinese still had nine players who tested positive for Covid-19.

The Bianconeri went ahead in the 19th minute as Arthur’s pass was tapped by Moise Kean for Dybala to finish with a left-footed strike, Xinhua reports. Dybala refused to celebrate the opener, instead glaring at the Juve’s directors on the stands, as the reports disclosed the confrontation between La Joya and the upper echelon after the club suspended his contract extension.

The Old Lady sealed the win in the 79th minute, Dybala was involved again when the Argentine spread the play down the left, and Mattia De Sciglio rolled across for McKennie to head in.

With the win, Juventus still rank fifth with 38 points, three behind Atalanta who hosts Inter Milan on Sunday and has a game in hand.

Also on Sunday, Lazio also registered a convincing victory as it beat Salernitana 3-0, with Ciro Immobile’s quick-double on Manuel Lazzari’s goal.

Elsewhere, Torino beat Sampdoria 2-1 on the road.