Christiano Ronaldo converted a penalty two minutes from time as Juventus came from behind to win 2-1 over Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico and go 11 points clear at the top on Sunday.
Juventus started the second half the brighter of the two, but Emre Can unwillingly headed Luiz Aleberto’s corner beyond Wojciech Szczesny, it looked it was going to be a though night in Rome.
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri was in jovial mood when asked why his men found the first 60 minutes of this evening’s game against Lazio so difficult.
“It must have been the kitmen’s fault, giving us ten shirts of different colours because we couldn’t pass each other the ball.” Allegri said.
“We misplaced a lot of passes but it’s my fault. I tried playing Emre Can in front of the defence but at the moment he’s not fully adjusted to match tempo and movement, so I put him in a difficult situation.
“In the second half I moved [Rodrigo] Bentancur and we switched to a two-man midfield base; from that moment Emre started playing well.
“Until the 60th minute, we lost possession too much, let them counter and Ciro Immobile nearly made it 2-0. For the last 30 minutes, we did better and managed to win a difficult game, but it’s never been easy to beat Lazio here in Rome.” Allegri added.
Juventus was still without Mario Mandzukic, Miralem Pjanic, Sami Khedira, Juan Cuadrado, and Andrea Barzagli, while, Mendhi Benatia was unavailable due to a pending move to Al-Duhail.
Cristiano Ronaldo scores late penalty in Serie A game against Lazio. (Source:www.flipboard.com)
“The players on the bench are more important than those who start because they can change the game if they come on with the right attitude,” Allegri said.
“Was [Wojciech] Szczesny our man of the match? He’s doing really well, but we already knew he’s a great goalkeeper. His presence and focus improved significantly over the 90 minutes.
“It was very important for us to win given Napoli’s result. I had told the lads that we might have to win even by playing badly.” Allegri added.
The Bianconeri chasing an eight successive league title, have 59 point out of a possible 63, while second-placed Napoli are on 48 after their 0-0 draw at AC Milan on Saturday.
