TURIN: Two goals by midfielder Adrien Rabiot helped Juventus crush Empoli 4-0 at the Allianz Stadium on Friday, as Massimiliano Allegri’s team won two consecutive Serie A games for the first time this season ahead of their Champions League clash at Benfica which could seal their elimination from Europe’s top club competition.
Juventus, who grabbed a 1-0 derby victory at Torino last time out, moved up one place to seventh on 19 points, seven points behind Serie A leaders Napoli and three away from Roma who sit in fourth and host the pacesetters at the Stadio Olimpico on Sunday night.
“We are now looking more like a team,” Allegri told DAZN. “We had started (the season) well, then we had a bad week, which cost us the delay in the championship. Tonight we had to confirm ourselves and we did well. We are improving, already the fact that the team kept a great pace in the second half is a good sign for (our) physical condition.”
Friday’s match served as a warm up to Juve’s trip Lisbon to take on Benfica with elimination from the Champions League staring them in the face.
Juve are five points behind both their hosts on Tuesday and Group ‘H’ leaders Paris Saint-Germain and have to win their final two matches to have any chance of making it through to the last 16.
Forward Moise Kean put the hosts ahead in the eighth minute when he tapped in a beautiful cross from Filip Kostic.
Weston McKennie doubled Juve’s lead shortly after the break when Juan Cuadrado sent in a great pass and the US international headed the ball into the roof of the net.
It was France international Rabiot who rounded off the scoring, first forcing another header just across the line from Juan Cuadrado’s corner with eight minutes remaining before tapping home the fourth in stoppage time.
Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2022