Serie A Week 33: Juventus - Milan

Del Piero 1-0

Inzaghi 1-1

Inzaghi 1-2

Salihamidzic 2-2

Salihamidzic 3-2


Juventus with 3-2 against Milan in Torino

Two goals from Hasan Salihamidzic helped Juventus draw level, then beat AC Milan in a five-goal thriller in Turin.

The hosts took the lead in eleven minutes through man-of-the-hour Alessandro Del Piero, only to fall behind to a first-half double from Pippo Inzaghi.

Salihamidzic levelled before the break, tapping in a rebound, before nodding home the winner with ten minutes remaining against a Rossoneri side minus a man thanks to Bonera’s red card.

First Half

Milan, with a makeshift back four, began sloppily, rather standing off Juventus at times and allowing Del Piero room to shoot from distance on 5 minutes. The Rossoneri looked sluggish in midfield and in the 11th minute received a wake-up call, Del Piero rolling the ball to the corner of the net from inside the box.

The goal succeeded in bringing the visitors out of their shells, and within two minutes they were back level: running down the left channel, Kaká beat Molinaro before crossing low for Inzaghi to tap home from just a couple of yards. The frantic pace showed no signs of lifting, with end-to-end action ensuing: Pirlo’s effort deflected behind while for the hosts Grygera lashed one over the top.

Juve generally seemed to have the upper hand, with Del Piero and Camoranesi impressing, but it was a great shot from Kaká, saved brilliantly by Buffon, that gave Milan the game’s next big chance. It was a warning, for on the half hour the visitors – and Inzaghi – notched their second of the night. Bonera sprang the offside trap on the right channel of the penalty box and, as Buffon came out to challenge, squared the ball for the waiting Inzaghi to tap home.

Milan were pressing now, with Juve committing numerous sloppy fouls, and Buffon was again called into action following a Kaká volley. But just as it seemed that the hosts were hanging on for half-time, they stunned the visitors by drawing level: Kalac did well to prevent Trezeguet’s bullet header going in, but the ball fell to Hasan Salihamidzic who made no mistake.

Second Half

Understandably, the second half failed to replicate the standard seen before the break, but there remained incident enough. The home side had the first effort after the restart, Grygera rifling a shot that required a diving save from Kalac in the Milan goal. Maldini then did well to prevent Camoranesi from delivering a dangerous ball from the bye-line.

Juve came close again through substitute Stendardo, who should have done better with his diving header. Milan were now on the back foot, even more so on 65 minutes when Bonera was shown a straight red for his studs-up tackle on Mohamed Sissoko. Two-goal hero Inzaghi was removed from proceedings to compensate for the gap in defence.

Juve poured forward, sensing the winner was there, but struggled to cut through Milan’s resolute and numerous back-line until the 80th minute, when Salihamidzic popped up with the winning goal. The Bosnian leapt to nod powerfully past an outstretched Kalac and put the Bianconeri in front for the second time this evening.

Milan searched frantically for an equalising goal but Cafu’s tame long-range shot and poor set piece play from Pirlo and Ambrosini did little to trouble Juve’s goal. At the other end only a fine stop from Kalac prevented Del Piero capping his night with a fourth Bianconeri goal, but Juventus nevertheless recorded an important victory, leaving Milan desperate in the race for the remaining Champions League spot.