Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata netted for Juventus; Mario Pasalic scored a hat-trick and Teun Koopmeiners got on the score sheet as Atalanta beat Venezia 4-0.
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Juventus beat Salernitana 2-0 in the Serie A fixture at Stadio Arechi on Tuesday. Paulo Dybala opened the scoring for the visitors in the first half before Alvaro Morata sealed the win with a second after the break. Meanwhile Dybala had an opportunity to get his brace but missed the penalty kick in the closing stages of the game. Juventus came into the match on the back of a home defeat against Atalanta, their fifth league loss and 4-0 thrashing by Chelsea in the Champions League fixture.
The away side started the match positively as Dybala’s shot from outside the box was well held by home goalkeeper Vid Belec. Few moments later, Dejan Kulusevski’s shot from the edge of the area went just over the crossbar. Meanwhile at the other end, Nwankwo Simy’s header whistled just wide. That was a rare attempt from the hosts.
Juventus broke the deadlock in the 21st minute when Dybala played a beautiful one-two with Kulusevski before smashing the ball past Belec and into the far bottom corner from the edge of the area. Seven minutes later, Bianconeri had the ball in the net for a second time when Juan Cuadrado’s free kick came off the upright, was cleared by Riccardo Gagliolo and Giorgio Chiellini turned in the rebound. However, it was disallowed with the help of VAR because Moise Kean was in an offside position.
Salernitana got a rare chance to equalize and got ever so close in the 58th minute when Luca Ranieri’s angled drive beat visiting goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny but bounced off the inside of the far post.
Juventus doubled the lead in the 70th minute. Dybala spread the ball to Federico Bernardeschi on the left side of the penalty area and the Italian winger’s low cross was smartly flicked in by substitute Morata at the near post.
Kulusevski played the ball to Morata and the Spaniard released Dybala through on goal with a first time ball. But the Argentine playmaker was brilliantly denied by Belec. Deep into stoppage time, Morata was brought down by Norbert Gyomber inside the box and the referee pointed to the penalty spot. Dybala stepped up to take the spot kick but slipped and ballooned his attempt.
After the victory, Juventus are seventh in the points table with 24 points from 15 games while Salernitana are at the bottom with just 8 points.
Elsewhere, Atalanta thrashed Venezia 4-0 in Bergamo courtesy of Mario Pasalic’s hat-trick. It took just seven minutes for the hosts to open the scoring. Josip Ilicic played a brilliant through ball between the legs of multiple opposition players to Pasalic inside the box and the Croatian striker calmly slotted the ball in from close range with a first-time finish.
Pasalic doubled the lead after just five minutes of the opening goal. Ilicic cut inside and gave the ball to Pasalic, who played a nice give-and-go with Luis Muriel before scoring from 10 yards. The home side got their third of the night in the 57th minute through Teun Koopmeiners. Giuseppe Pezzella laid the ball to Koopmeiners outside the box, and the Dutchman unleashed a low first-time drive into the bottom corner.
Pasalic completed his hat-trick in the 67th minute. Left winger Muriel turned Ethan Ampadu inside out before delivering a cut back for Pasalic in front of goal. The 26-year-old collected the ball on his left foot and slotted it in with his right foot on the turn.
