Images via @OfficialUSS1919 and @juventusfcen on Twitter
Last night’s Serie A game between Juventus and Salernitana featured Arek Milik and Krzysztof Piątek being at the centre of some big moments, and being two of the biggest reasons that we were treated to such an entertaining fixture.
Piątek was making his first start for Salernitana, and he and Boulaye Dia up front were causing all sorts of problems for the Juve defence. He could easily have had a penalty after having his heel clipped as he took a then-wayward shot on goal, before his team later went 1-0 up. Just before half-time, the ball was played across the penalty area to Piątek, who sent the ball in the direction of the goal before Bremer’s outstretched arm resulted in a penalty being awarded. Piątek dispatched the penalty with aplomb and saw the visitors go into the break 2-0 ahead.
Milik came on for the second half after a hopeless first 45 from Moise Kean, and immediately made a difference, winning the ball back in the build-up to Juventus’ first goal. He offered far more than Kean had, often dropping into spaces between the Salernitana midfield and defence, where he could then make passes to advance the moves.
Piątek was substituted after an hour, and Salernitana lost a lot of the confidence they had going forward once he was replaced. Juventus began to dominate, but without many real threats on goal. Milk did hit the top of the bar, but it looked like Juventus were going to struggle to score. Shortly after this, Juve won a penalty, which Leonardo Bonucci saw saved before he powered home the rebound.
Next, Juventus won a corner. Milk made a run to the near post and managed to direct his header into the far corner. Cue wild celebrations, and a second booking for Milik for taking his shirt off (a rule only ever brought in because Diego Forlan couldn’t remember how to put his shirt back on). Then, a large brawl broke out resulting in several more red cards before the goal was eventually ruled out for offside by the VAR official after Bonucci was deemed interfering with play. It has later transpired the officials were using the wrong camera angle and had missed Salernitana’s first goalscorer that night, Antonio Candreva, standing by the corner flag and playing everyone onside. I’m a big fan of VAR, but unfortunately it is only ever as good as the people operating it. It will be interesting to see the fallout from this embarrassment, and what if anything is to be done about it.
Milik yet again suffers from a chronic case of unluckiness, and will serve his suspension next week against bottom of the table Monza. They play Benfica in the Champions League in midweek, and you would say that Milik has to be starting now for Juve.
Piątek was very bright for Salernitana whilst on the pitch, and you expect he will be starting for them more often than not going forward.
For Poland, it’s a great sign that two strikers whose careers were sort of petering out are now rediscovering good form ahead of an international break. If they can keep it up until the World Cup, then we have every reason to get excited about Poland’s chances of making progress in Qatar.
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