Juventus eked out a 3-2 win over Cheivo in the first Serie A game of this season in Verona on Saturday, 18 August.
The match also marked the return of Leonardo Bonucci as he reunited with Giorgio Chiellini. Bonucci came back to Juventus after a one year spell in AC Milan.
Federico Bernardeschi’s late goal in the 93rd minute, saved the day for Juventus in a match that had Cristiano Ronaldo constantly frustrated.
Juventus started with their full-strength squad in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Ronaldo up front as the lone striker with Caudrado and Doughlas Costa working in the wings.
The reigning champions took control early in the game as they opened their account in the third minute. The veteran Sami Kherida converted with his left foot from inside the box.
Juventus unsurprisingly enjoyed most of the possession (77 percent) in the first half with the trio of Paulo Dybala, Douglas Costa and Juan Cuadrado spreading the ball across the pitch.
Ronaldo came close to scoring a few times in the match, but couldn’t find the back of the net.
Chievo equalizer came late in the first half through a Mariusz Stepinski header. The goal came against the run of the play as the home team were seeing very less of the ball. Stepinski jumped high towards an inviting cross from Emanuele Giaccherini and put the ball behind the goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in the 38th minute.
Chievo doubled their lead when Emanuele Giaccherini converted from the spot kick almost an hour into the game.
The unexpected second goal from Chievo prompted two changes from Juventus. To add more accuracy up front, Caudrado and Costa were replaced with Bernardeschi and Mario Mandzukic.
An own goal from Chievo central defender Mattia Bani in the 75th minute set the contest even again.
The match invited drama in the final minutes. Yellow cards were shown due to flying tempers, Mandzukic’s goal was denied via Video Assistant Referee (VAR) and Bernardeschi tucking in a goal just when it seemed that the match would end in a draw.
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