Turin, March 13 (BNA): Juventus midfielder Adrien Rabiot scored in each half to secure a 4-2 win over bottom club Sampdoria in a thriller on Sunday that lifted his injury-hit side to seventh and within sight. Another European spot.
Massimiliano Allegri’s team in Turin has 38 points and is four points behind sixth-placed Atalanta, Reuters reports.
Juventus missed several key players, including midfielder Paul Pogba, who suffers from a muscle problem from training and will be out of action until the international break.
Angel Di Maria, Federico Chiesa and Alex Sandro were also absent due to injuries they picked up in the 1-0 Europa League win at home to German club Freiburg on Thursday.
“This morning Pogba was taking free kicks and felt a tingling in his adductor muscles,” Allegri told DAZN. “He will have tests tomorrow but he certainly won’t be there next Thursday or Sunday, so we’ll see him after the break on international duty.”
Gleeson Bremer put Juventus ahead with a header after 11 minutes when they beat Sampdoria’s defence.
Rabiot doubled the lead with another header after 26 minutes, when he met Fabio Meriti’s cross from the right.
The visitors then scored twice in 72 seconds on the half-hour mark when Tommaso Augello scored a deflected shot before Filip Djuricic sent the Allianz Stadium into sudden silence when he latched onto a pass from the sideline and smashed into the corner.
Sampdoria chased another goal, but to no avail, and Juventus players entered the first half with a loud shout from the stands.
“manage the game”
“I think the team should improve in managing the game,” Allegri added. “We were leading 2-0, we had to close the spaces and counterattack.
“The older defenders should have looked out for the younger ones and put them back in their positions. These are the situations you get when players don’t play a lot of games for Juventus.”
Rabiot became the hero of the night for the home fans when he scored his second goal of the match after 64 minutes with a volley from the edge of the box.
“He (Rabiot) is a player you enjoy watching and he has a different engine than others,” Allegri said. “My idea today was to give Rabiot 60 minutes and Pogba 30 minutes but then he got injured.”
The drama continued when Dusan Vlahović missed a penalty for the hosts after Augelo fouled Juan Cuadrado.
The relentless pressure in the latter part of the game paid off for Juventus though, though, Matthias Sule slotted in a rebound after Sampdoria’s Martin Turk had a save four minutes into stoppage time.
The defeat left bottom club Genoa with 12 points from 26 games, 12 points off safety and in danger of ending their 11-year streak in Serie A.