Juventus 2 Lazio 0: Paulo Dybala scores sublime goal as hosts return to winning ways with Max Allegri starting him, Gonazalo Higuain and Mario Mandzukic for first time
Bianconeri bounced back from defeat at Fiorentina with satisfactory win as Dybala shows why there is so much hype
PAULO DYBALA showed just why is so highly thought of with a quite sublime goal as Juventus got back to winning ways.
Max Allegri’s success in Italy has been built on a solid defence, but he threw caution to the wind as his side looked to bounce back from defeat at Fiorentina.
The Juventus boss started Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Mario Mandzukic together for the time.
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While he also played Miralem Pjanic in behind as the Serie A leaders opted for an ultra-attacking starting line-up.
It was a bold move as Lazio are no pushovers.
The Romans have impressed under new boss, Simone Inzaghi, and came into this match in fourth place.
Before the match, the club paraded their controversial new logo around the Juventus Stadium, with flags on all the seat.
But his side did their talking on the pitch as the hosts came out of the blocks quickly, and the Lazio defence couldn’t handle their rampant hosts.
Allegri’s tactical decision paid dividends as Dybala opened the scoring after just five minutes.
Stephan Lichtsteiner found Mandzukic with a long ball, and the Croatian intelligently headed it down into space just outside the area.
Dybala ran onto it and unleashed a perfectly weighted effort with the outside of his boot past Lazio goalkeeper, Federico Marchetti.
And just 11 minutes later, it was two as Higuain got on the end of Juan Cuadrado’s cross to poke in his 14th goal of the season.
Dybala then squandered a host of chances as Juve attacked relentlessly.
Sergey Milinkovic-Savic had the Biancocelesti’s best chance, but shot wide.
Lazio are still in contention for a Champions League place, but need to improve their performances against Serie A’s big guns.
They have now lost against Juventus twice, AC Milan, Inter and Roma this season.
Juve came into his match on the back of some pressure, knowing even a draw could see them relinquish top spot for the first time since early last season.
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Napoli’s impressive victory over Milan had shown the reigning champions they would have to fight to retain their title.
But they put all that aside to earn a satisfactory win which extends their lead at the top to four points.
Now it’s over to second-place Roma, who host Cagliari this evening.