Juve ease to victory against Lazio

Posted Sunday, August 26, 2018 by PA

Miralem Pjanic and Mario Mandzukic struck as champions Juventus maintained their winning start in Serie A with a 2-0 home victory over Lazio.

Pjanic put Juve ahead with half an hour gone in Turin and Mandzukic made victory certain 15 minutes from time.

The result lifted Massimiliano Allegri’s side to six points after their opening two fixtures while Lazio are still looking for their first points.

Cristiano Ronaldo had the first opportunity of the game when he headed wide for Juventus after seven minutes but Lazio also made a bright start with Senad Lulic and Adam Marusic calling Wojciech Szczesny into action.

Juve stepped up the pressure with Federico Bernardeschi also heading wide before shooting over after Sami Khedira had an effort blocked.

Lulic threatened again for Lazio but missed the target and Juve took the lead after 30 minutes when Pjanic struck from outside the box.

Bernardeschi had another effort blocked and Ronaldo was denied before the interval when Thomas Strakosha saved his low shot.

Lazio finished the first half strongly but Ciro Immobile, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Lulic and Marco Parolo all spurned opportunities.

Blaise Matuidi wasted a chance to double Juve’s lead early in the second half and Luis Alberto almost made them pay as he shot narrowly wide just before the hour mark.

The hosts made the most of that reprieve. Giorgio Chiellini had a long-range effort blocked after going forward for a corner and Ronaldo tested Strakosha again before Mandzukic doubled the lead. Ronaldo was the provider and the Croat struck from close range.

There was no way back for Lazio with a late chance for Joaquin Correa amounting to little.