Serie A | Juventus 2-1 Roma: Old Lady back in the fight for fourth

Francisco Conceicao and Lois Openda allowed Juventus to defeat Roma and close to within a point of the Giallorossi in fourth place.

Both coaches were struggling with long absentee lists going into this showdown for fourth place. Teun Koopmeiners was suspended, with Federico Gatti, Juan Cabal and Dusan Vlahovic injured, so Gleison Bremer got his first start since the meniscus tear on September 27. Artem Dovbyk didn’t make the trip, with Mario Hermoso not fully fit, Evan Ndicka and Neil El Aynaoui at the Africa Cup of Nations, so the Giallorossi defence had to be completely revamped. Paulo Dybala and Matias Soulé faced their former club, as did Luciano Spalletti.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

Dybala tested Michele Di Gregorio after a give and go into the box, but Juve had a double chance when Lois Openda ran onto the Khephren Thuram through ball, forcing Mile Svilar and Devyne Rensch to scramble clear.

Lorenzo Pellegrini and Thuram failed to get the right finish in promising situations, while Bremer made a decisive block on Manu Koné in the penalty area.

Wesley pulled back from the by-line for Dybala, who turned wide of the near post from six yards when getting there ahead of Bremer.

Di Gregorio was right behind the Pellegrini toe-poke, but Juve created the best chance of the half. Kenan Yildiz found Francisco Conceicao, who dribbled around Rensch to force a desperate Svilar save, then Openda’s follow-up was deflected over.

Moments later, Juventus took the lead. Kenan Yildiz rolled across from the left, Andrea Cambiaso flicked it on with his heel and Conceicao took a couple of touches before placing the precise angled drive into the far bottom corner, through Jan Ziolkowski’s legs.

Juventus threatened again after the restart, Kenan Yildiz combining with Openda to get down the left, his left-footed angled drive flashing across the face of goal to skim the far post.

Svilar kept the scoreline down, rushing off his line to smother the Francisco Conceicao back-heel flick, then getting his gloves stung by a Cambiaso scorcher from the edge of the area.

Gian Piero Gasperini changed his entire front three, while Francisco Conceicao and Bremer went off with muscular issues.

Gianluca Mancini nodded over from a corner, but Juventus doubled their lead instead. Svilar made another big save on the Weston McKennie glancing header from Edon Zhegrova’s cross, then the American reacted quicker than anyone else, prodding the rebound into the path of Openda to tap in from close range. It was his first Serie A goal.

Things went from bad to worse for Roma, who were forced to waste a substitution because Leon Bailey limped off with a flexor injury just 20 minutes after coming on.

Roma got one back when Evan Ferguson’s angled drive was parried one-handed into the path of Tommaso Baldanzi at the back post.

Kenan Yildiz almost made it 3-1, but his strike from the edge of the area thumped the base of the far post with Svilar beaten.

In stoppages, Ferguson shrugged off Daniele Rugani, but scuffed the finish into the arms of Di Gregorio.

Juventus 2-1 Roma

Conceicao 44 (J), Openda 70 (J), Baldanzi 75 (R)