Teenager Samuel Iling-Junior scored his first senior goal on his first start for Juventus to help his team beat Atalanta 2-0 and move into second spot in Serie A on Sunday. (More Football News)
Teenager Samuel Iling-Junior scored his first senior goal on his first start for Juventus to help his team beat Atalanta 2-0 and move into second spot in Serie A on Sunday.
Teenager Samuel Iling-Junior scored his first senior goal on his first start for Juventus to help his team beat Atalanta 2-0 and move into second spot in Serie A on Sunday. (More Football News)
The 19-year-old netted early in the second half and Dušan Vlahović sealed the result in stoppage time shortly after he was subjected to discriminatory chants by Atalanta fans, which prompted the match to be briefly stopped.
It was only a second win for Juventus in seven matches and saw the Bianconeri leapfrog Lazio, which lost 2-0 at AC Milan on Saturday in a close battle for the top four in Serie A.
Atalanta hit the woodwork twice and remained five points below fourth-place Inter Milan and the final Champions League qualifying spot.
There are four rounds remaining.
Napoli secured its first league title in 33 years on Thursday and the celebrations will continue later when it plays Fiorentina in its first home match since that evening in Udine.
At the other end of the table, Hellas Verona was playing at fellow struggler Lecce later.
In Bergamo, Atalanta was bidding for a fourth straight win. That would have left five sides within three points of each other fighting for the final three spots in next season’s Champions League.
It was a high-intensity match from the start and Ángel Di María curled an effort just past the left upright in the 21st minute for Juventus.
Atalanta went even closer three minutes later when Giorgio Scalvini headed a corner from the right off the far post.
Juventus broke the deadlock 11 minutes after the interval in a move started and finished by Iling-Junior.
The England Under-20 international won the ball on the left flank and cut inside before giving it to Adrien Rabiot. He rolled it across for Arkadiusz Milik but Atalanta defender Joakim Mæhle’s interception ended up setting it up for Iling-Junior, who fired into the roof of the net from close range.
Davide Zappacosta almost leveled for Atalanta with a minute remaining but his 20-yard effort thumped off the base of the near post.
The match was briefly halted because Atalanta fans were making discriminatory chants towards Vlahović, who is from Serbia. The referee and the Atalanta players asked them to stop, while they were also jeered by other sections of the home support.
Vlahović got his revenge in the eighth minute of stoppage time. Federico Chiesa raced forward on the counter from inside his own half and rolled the ball across to Vlahović before frantically calling for it back but the Serbian ignored him and placed it into the top left corner.
Vlahović declined to say anything to the Atalanta fans, but pointed furiously to his chest instead.