Juventus 1-0 Udinese: Late Danilo goal sees Juve move up to second in Serie A as winning run continues

A late goal from Danilo gave Juventus all three points against Udinese at the Allianz Stadium to keep the Bianconeri’s Scudetto hopes alive.

The game lacked quality in the early exchanges, with both sides getting into good attacking positions but failing to find an accurate final ball.

Udinese had their first big chance after 17 minutes, Walace headed towards goal following a well worked corner but Wojciech Szczesny dealt with it well.

Just over a minute later Juventus had their first big chance, also coming from a corner. Daniele Rugani rose highest to power a header on target but Marco Silvestri was on hand to deny the defender his first goal of the season.

Eight minutes before the break Max Allegri’s side had their best chance of the half, Angel Di Maria slid a great pass through to put Moise Kean 1v1 but the Italian forward saw his effort saved brilliantly by Silvestri.

Juventus started the second half as they ended the last five minutes of the first – on top and playing with more attacking purpose.

Udinese, who were superior in terms of possession in the first half, were much more on the back foot in the second period but continued to hold firm, retreating further and further back as the game went on and frustrating the Bianconeri.

Udinese had chances to cause damage on the counter-attack on a few occasions as Juventus continued to pour forward but as was the case all game, the quality of the final ball just wasn’t there.

The introduction of Federico Chiesa gave Juventus another dimension in attack and in the 86th minute Juventus found the breakthrough. Chiesa brought the ball down on his chest superbly before poking the ball across the face of goal and Danilo was on hand to poke home and give Juventus all three points.

TALKING POINT – LATE GOAL KINGS

Once again Max Allegri’s side scored late to rescue a win. The victory against Udinese tonight means it’s eight straight victories in Serie A for the Bianconeri who shown they are well in with a shout of the Serie A title despite a slow start to the season. Interestingly, it was the second time in four days that Juventus won 1-0 thanks to a goal inside the last five minutes. Tonight it was Danilo on 86 minutes, on Wednesday against Cremonese it was a 91st minute winner from Arkadiusz Milik. It’s not jus the winning goals either, Juventus have shown this season that they will continue going until the final whistle regardless of the scoreline. In the last match before the World Cup, Milik popped up in the 89th minute to score Juventus’ third of the afternoon against Lazio and just the week before Nicolo Fagioli scored Juventus’ second against Inter to kill off the game and any hope of an Inter comeback. To keep going until the last whistle is something people often associate with great teams of the past and for Juventus, it’s working well this season.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH – DANILO (JUVENTUS)

Danilo was the matchwinner on the night, poking home from close range to give his side all three points but it was his overall performance which was impressive. The Juventus captain stood firm in defence when Udinese were going forward with frequency in the first half. He made five clearances, two tackles, blocked one shot, made one interception and won three of his four aerial duels. On the ball he was smart too, playing short to move Juventus up the pitch and also going long when necessary (completing 3 of his 4 long passes). It was a solid performance from the Brazilian.

PLAYER RATINGS

Juventus: Szczesny 8, Danilo 9, Rugani 7, Sandro 7, McKennie 7, Rabiot 7, Locatelli 6, Miretti 6, Kostic 7, Di Maria 8, Kean 6

Subs: Fagioli 6, Paredes 6, Milik 6, Chiesa 7, Soule 6

Udinese: Silvestri 7, Perez 7, Bijol 7, Becao 7, Udogie 6, Makengo 6, Walace 7, Lovric 7, Pereyra 6, Success 6, Beto 6

Subs: Ehizibue 6, Ebosse 6, Arslan 6, Samardzic 6, Nestorovski N/A

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

17′ BIG CHANCE Udinese work the corner well and Walace powers a header towards goal at the back post but it’s saved well by Szczesny.

19′ BIG CHANCE! Just seconds after Udinese had their first big chance, Juventus have theirs. Daniele Rugani rises highest to power a header towards goal but Marco Silvestri deals with it well. That’s a big chance for Juventus.

37′ HUGE CHANCE That was by far the best move of the match so far and it really should be 1-0 to Juventus. Moise Kean makes a great run and is slipped through by Angel Di Maria for a 1v1 but his shot is saved at point-blank range by Marco Silvestri.

86′ GOAL – JUVENTUS Danilo has scored what looks to be the winning goal! Federico Chiesa volleyed across the face of the box for the Brazilian Danilo to fire home. A superb goal.

KEY STAT

12 – Juventus have kept 12 clean sheets after their first 17 games in Serie A this term, only one side had recorded an higher such tally at this stage in the history of the competition: Cagliari in 1966/67 (13). Shutter. – (via Opta Paolo – Twitter)