Juventus 2-0 Bologna: Report, Ratings & Reaction as the Old Lady Keep Up Their Unbeaten Streak
Juventus kept up their unbeaten start to the season with a comfortable 2-0 win over Bologna on Wednesday evening.
The home side were straight on the front foot from the first whistle and managed to put themselves two goals up within 16 minutes. First, Paulo Dybala volleyed home an acrobatic rebound, before Blaise Matuidi lashed home a strike into the near post to effectively kill the game off before it even got started.
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That early flurry of action proved to be decisive with the score line staying the same until the end of the match. Juventus dominated the ball throughout and were rarely tested by a poor Bologna side.
JUVENTUS
Key Talking Point
The final score doesn't accurately reflect how easy a match this was for Juventus.
There were points in the match where Bologna simply couldn't prise the ball way from the Old Lady, not matter how hard they tried. Their passing was sharp, their defensive organisation was sound and they didn't have to get out of second gear to control the match.
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It was seriously impressive stuff from the reigning champions, who have now laid down a marker for anyone wishing to challenge them for the Serie A title this season.
Player Ratings
Starting XI: Perin (6); Barzagli (7), Bonnuci (6), Benatia (6); Pjanic (6), Matuidi (7), Bentancur (6), Cancelo (8), Cuadrado (7); Ronaldo (7), Dybala (8*).
Substitutes: Can (6), Bernardeschi (6), Sandro (N/A).
Star Man - Pressure was beginning to mount on Paulo Dybala after a slow start to the season, but he was back to his best in this one.
He picked up his first goal of the season with an acrobatic strike that required some serious skill to pull off and orchestrated a number of promising attacks for Juve thereafter.
Juve fans will be hoping that the Argentinian forward can kick on from here and get back to the sort of form which has seen him earn huge acclaim in the past.
Worst Player - No one had a poor game for the hosts, but if anyone would have been coming off the pitch disappointed, it may have been Mattia Perin.
The 25-year-old goalkeeper made his Juventus debut but barely had to make a save. The clean sheet will please him, but he'll be feeling a twinge of disappointment about not being able to play more of an active role in the win.
Looking Ahead
Juventus will now look ahead to Saturday where they host Napoli in what promises to be an enticing tussle between two of the front runners for the Serie A title.
