Juventus beat Udinese 1-0 but will play in Europa Conference League next season after dramatic Roma victory.
Udinese had their first big chance to take the lead after just four minutes, Florian Thauvin did brilliantly to fire in a cross from the left-hand side but Beto could only divert his header over the crossbar.
Juventus went inches away from taking the lead after half an hour, Arkadiusz Milik cleverly headed the ball into the direction of Leonardo Bonucci who saw his header cannon back off the crossbar.
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Adrien Rabiot went close to opening the scoring on the hour mark, he was slipped in brilliantly into a dangerous position but smashed his effort wide of the target.
Max Allegri’s side broke the deadlock with 20 minutes to go thanks to a goal from Federico Chiesa. Manuel Locatelli slipped a pass into Chiesa who manoeuvred well to get the ball onto his right foot before bending an effort past Marco Silvestri.
Udinese pushed forward in search of an equaliser but failed to break down Juventus’ defence.
TALKING POINT – JUVENTUS ENTER THE CONFERENCE LEAGUE
The end of the Serie A season will give Juventus time to ponder on what could have been. Without the points deduction, Allegri’s side would have finished on 72 points – level with Inter and would have qualified for the UEFA Champions League. The reality is though that Juventus will be playing in UEFA’s tertiary competition next season, should they be allowed to by UEFA. It looked as though they were going to leapfrog Roma and finish in sixth place and thus qualify for the Europa League but an injury-time penalty scored by Paulo Dybala against Spezia sent Roma back into sixth and thrust Juventus back into seventh.
PLAYER OF THE MATCH – DANILO (JUVENTUS)
The Brazilian defender was calm, assured and brilliant on the ball tonight for Juventus. He made several big challenges to stop Udinese from getting into dangerous areas. He won five of his six duels, made five tackles, two interceptions and three clearances. On the ball he was brilliant too, completing 11 of his 14 long passes and ending the night with a passing accuracy of just under 95%. His passing helped Juventus switch the ball out to the flanks and get up the pitch quickly. A refined performance from the 31-year-old.
PLAYER RATINGS
Udinese: Silvestri 7, Abankwah 7, Perez 7, Guessand 7, Pereyra 6, Samardzic 6, Walace 7, Lovric 7, Udogie 7, Thauvin 7, Beto 6. Subs: Arslan 6, Cocetta 6, Nestorovski 6, Buta 6, Vivaldo 6
Juventus: Szczesny 7, Danilo 8, Bonucci 7, Gatti 7, Kostic 7, Locatelli 7, Rabiot 6 , Cuadrado 7, Chiesa 7, Miretti 6, Milik 6 Subs: Iling Junior 6, Di Maria 6, Peredes 6, Kean 6, Rugani N/A
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
4′ A BIG CHANCE FOR BETO! – Florian Thauvin does brilliantly down the left-hand side to fire in a cross but Beto can only divert his header over the target.
31′ BONUCCI IS DENIED BY THE CROSSBAR! – Bonucci gets on the end of a ball and fires his header onto the crossbar!
61′ WIDE FROM RABIOT! – That is a huge chance for Juventus. Rabiot is slipped in brilliantly but the French midfielder fires his effort wide of the target.
68′ GOAL – JUVENTUS – Federico Chiesa has broken the deadlock at the Dacia Arena! He turned brilliantly in the box onto his right foot before firing his effort past Silvestre.
KEY STAT
Juventus will play in the UEFA Europa Conference League for the first time next season.
More to follow.
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