Juventus took the lead through Maya Yoshida's own goal before Alvaro Morata doubled the lead from the penalty spot and then sealed the with his second of the night.
Follow Us
Alvaro Morata scored a double as Juventus beat Sampdoria 3-1 in the Serie A fixture at Luigi Ferraris on Saturday. Massimiliano Allegri’s side took the lead mid-way through the first half courtesy of Maya Yoshida’s own goal before Morata doubled the lead after the half-hour mark. Although Sampodria pulled on back through Abelhamid Samiri, Morata’s second of the night sealed Juve’s third consecutive league victory. The result helped Bianconeri to 56 points from 29 points and put pressure on the top-three.
Also read: Manchester United vs Tottenham: Ronaldo nets hat-trick as the Reds Devils win 3-2
FT | ⌛️ | ????? ????? ??? ????? ???????? ????? ??????! ?#SampJuve #FinoAllaFine #ForzaJuve pic.twitter.com/6VeIWU1l2e
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) March 12, 2022
Allegri rested star-striker Dusan Vlahovic for the first time since he joined in January. Meanwhile it was the hosts who started the match on the driving seat as Anotnio Candreva tested Wojciech Szczęsny with a free-kick before his powerful long-ranger was parried away by the Polish keeper.
But Juve took the lead against the run of play courtesy of a quick breakaway move. Yoshida accidentally bundled the ball inside his own net from six yards out while trying to block Juan Cuadrado’s low cross.
In response, Stefano Sensi’s low shot from the left side of the box was brilliantly kept out by Szczesny at the near post. Meanwhile Juve doubled their lead on 34 minutes when Moise Kean was brought down inside the box by Omar Colley and the referee points to the spot. Morata stepped up, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and smashed into the net.
After the break, Sampdoria were awarded a penalty for Adrien Rabiot’s handling of the ball just inside the box and Candreva stepped up, but saw his effort denied by Szczesny who dived to his right and made the save with his trailing hand.
Vlahovic came on in place of Kean while 25 minutes of play left and forced a save from Wladimiro Falcone at the near post. Sampodria were playing some good football and created a decent number of chances, and they finally got the deserved goal on 84 minutes. Samiri’s free-kick deflected off the wall and loped over the helpless Szczesny.
The Blucerchiati searched for the equaliser as Morten Thorsby hit the side-netting. But Juve sealed the three points with Morata’s 88th minute header. The Spaniard headed home from a tight angle at the far post from Manuel Locatelli’s cross.
Elsewhere in the other match of the day, AC Milan beat Empoli 1-0 courtesy of Pierre Kalulu’s 19th-minute strike. Florenzi played a one-two with Franck Kessie before trying to bend the ball into the far bottom corner, but Empoli keeper Gulielmo Vicario made a full-stretch save.
Milan took the lead when Olivier Giroud’s free-kick hit the wall but fell to Kalulu to fire into the far bottom corner with the inside of his left boot from outside the box. Milan continued to push forward as Florenzi fired wide from Rafael Leao’s back-heel inside the penalty area.
Giroud’s header from Davide Calabria’s free-kick was pushed away by Vicario before Kessie’s shot was blocked by the Empoli defence inside the six yard box.
After the break, Milan keeper Mike Maignan made a superb save to deny Sebastian Luperto’s header from a cross. And then, Maignan was tested from Nedim Bajrami’s in-swinging corner, having to shove it out from under the crossbar.
The result helped Milan to 63 points from 29 games, five points above second-placed Inter Milan who have two games in hand.
