Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images AS Roma visited Juventus Stadium on Saturday evening, the teams arriving for a top-of-the-table clash with fair four points separating them in the Serie A table and with important wins under their belts. A week early, the hosts had overcome a bouncy Torino side in a hard-fought local bowler hat, while the Giallorossi had beaten third-place AC Milan in their former excursion. “ Our status is easy to explain : this is a fundamental game for us, ” Roma boss Luciano Spalletti said at his pre-match press league. “ We can ’ t go there and look for a draw, we ’ d lose for sure. ”
Despite in-form forth Mohamed Salah alone being fit adequate for a set on the bench, while Alessandro Florenzi, Bruno Peres and Francesco Totti missed out wholly, the coach was surely genuine to his parole as Kostas Manolas and Daniele De Rossi flew into early challenges. yet the game soon followed the usual path of Juve-Roma clashes. The capital club—having lost on their five former away clashes against the Bianconeri—fell behind after barely 14 minutes. Gonzalo Higuain battled for the ball with De Rossi, finally leaving the Roma captain on the background, evaded Manolas and then fired a photograph into the top corner that Wojciech Szczesny was powerless to stop. The strike marked the Argentina international ’ second fourth finish in three matches, Higuain rounding into human body at a crucial steer of the campaign. however, Juventus did not have things their own means, Spalletti ’ s men rose to the challenge and dominated much of the game. Salah came on at half-time, adding some much-needed impulse to the attack, while Stephan El Shaarawy was besides introduced as Roma chased an counterweight. By the clock the final whistle blow, they had controlled 60.2 percentage of possession and out-shot Juve 10-7 over the 90+ minutes, according to WhoScored.com. “ Despite the final examination siege, Roma emerge pulsate, and it all becomes more difficult, ” Spalletti admitted in a post-game interview with Mediaset Premium ( h/t Football Italia ). “ Juve were stronger than us in the person duels and proved their lastingness. ” It was a vital succeed for the Bianconeri and helped them open a seven-point gap on their close rivals, but that they did so with an injury-ravaged squad was evenly impressive. Andrea Barzagli and Paulo Dybala were deemed not meet enough to start, while long-run absentees Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci missed out wholly. Those players obviously left Massimiliano Allegri short in defense, but the Juve boss was rewarded for his proceed faith in Daniele Rugani. Rather than opting for Medhi Benatia, the young Italy international retained his space in the start XI, delivering a superb performance as prison term and again he thwarted promising Roma attacks. As the FourFourTwo Stats Zone graphic in the pinch above highlights, his effort was astonishing against Serie A ’ s most fecund attack. Their opponents had scored more goals than any other team in the league before this meeting, but Rugani ensured the Bianconeri kept a clean sheet. It was their first base in domestic action since beating Pescara on November 19, and Allegri was felicitous to single out the youthful cardinal defender for praise for the work he did aboard Giorgio Chiellini. “ Rugani played a very significant match and expose bang-up proficiency and personality, ” the bus told Sky Italia ( h/t GianlucaDiMarzio.com ). “ I believe he can improve evening further. He besides gives a batch of assurances. The national team and Juventus are lucky to have him. ”
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Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images The player himself was overjoyed with the resultant role, telling Mediaset Premium ( h/t Football Italia ) that he was “ happy with my performance, but above all with the result ” before going on to explain far :
With every game I feel more confident, that ’ south normal for a player. When you are called into action, it helps you to mature. I feel that I have improved in several areas, but possibly the most significant measure was a psychological one. I came from a unlike flush at Empoli and it took the right come of meter to adapt .
He has surely done that, starting Juve ’ s end four matches and apparently getting better every time he steps on the field. They have not been easy fixtures either, besides including a acquire over high-flying Atalanta and a UEFA Champions League triumph over Dinamo Zagreb that helped Juve clinch top spot in their group. Rugani scored in both those games, and has however another reason to celebrate this week with Juve rewarding his growth with an improved condense. According to the golf club ’ s official web site, the 22-year-old penned a consider until June 2021, a lot to the delight of a self-confessed Juventus patron. “ I want to say lots of things about it, it means that the club believes in me, that I ‘m doing good and I ’ megabyte happy and proud of this, ” Rugani said after the announcement, per Football Italia. “ I ’ thousand glad because I was born a Juve winnow and to extend for five years gives me the greatest atonement of all. ” Stefano Sturaro agreed a alike hand the follow day, with Allegri expressing his own happiness at locking down two talented prospects. He told a imperativeness conference that the renewals are “ a sign of the cabaret ’ s vision for the future. ” “ They are two young and predict players, ” the coach went on to say, adding that Juventus are “ looking for them to become the spine of this team for years to come. ” That was surely the case on Saturday even and the Bianconeri will now head to Doha for their Supercoppa Italiana clash with AC Milan. That gives them their first base prospect for silverware this term, already safe in the cognition they will end 2016 at the clear of the table in Serie A. Gaining revenge for October ’ s league loss to the San Siro kit would be about a crucial as collecting the trophy, but the succeed over Roma besides saw them notch an impressive mark. The Old Lady have collected 100 points in the calendar year and registered their twenty-fifth consecutive domestic victory at Juventus Stadium, the latter skill equalling a club record set just two years earlier. many players have played their partially in that incredible run of form, but few are playing to the same level as Rugani at the here and now. Back in April, Opta noted in this tweet that he collected the inaugural book of his career, incredibly managing to make 52 full appearances without being shown a chicken wag.
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“ The coach has frequently told me to become more aggressive, not more dirty, ” Rugani told Tuttosport ( h/t Football Italia ) last condition, and he surely accepted that advice. His instincts have become more finely tuned, his desire to have an impact on matches nowadays much greater and he is nobelium long the squeaky-clean player he was at Empoli. previously expected to wait a while for a suffer run in the side, he showed against Roma that his time has already arrived. Rugani is better, he is part of the english and he is more than just the Juventus defender of tomorrow—he ’ s performing now, when the team so desperately need him to .