Juventus Women beat Roma at the Allianz to continue unbeaten run
Yesterday at 03:25 PM
It was another big win for the Bianconere when playing in front of a big crowd in Turin.
The second weekend of October saw Juventus Women return to a place in which some of their most memorable moments have happened over their seven-year existence. There have been big league victories, big Women's Champions League victories and, even though the sample size is still relatively small.
Sunday added another chapter to the Bianconere's moments of glory at Allianz Stadium.
In front of over 33,000 spectators, Juventus Women remained perfect in all competitions with a 2-1 victory over two-time defending champions Roma. Juve got first-half goals from Barbara Bonansea and Sofia Cantore — who also scored the game-winning goal in Wednesday night's UWCL opener against Vålerenga in Norway — and then withstood Roma's late-game push that included multiple heart-in-mouth moments in the closing minutes to move to a perfect 6-for-6 to begin the new Serie A Femminile season under first-year manager Max Canzi.
While Juve's lead over second-place Fiorentina remained at three points with La Viola's win over Sassuolo 24 hours earlier, the most important thing is that the Bianconere's advantage over Roma is now a whopping nine points despite it not yet even being the October international break. With how the league is now set up with its two phases of the season, building such an early advantage over Roma knowing they will likely have to face them four times in total before it's all said and done.
Playing in front of one of the biggest crowds the Juve women have ever seen in their handful of games at the Allianz Stadium clearly paid off. It was the second league win at the Allianz in as many chances — and they gave the hometown crowd plenty to cheer on early. Bonansea broke the deadlock just 13 minutes in, capping a fantastic three-player combination of long-range passing with Arianna Caruso and Estelle Cascarino, who sent a left-footed ball from just inside Roma's half of the field to Bonansea in the visitor's penalty area. Bonansea took one touch to control the ball with her right foot, then finished it at the far post past Roma keeper Camelia Ceasar.
The celebration was reminiscent of somebody who helped ring in the first year of Allianz Stadium's existence with plenty of special moments.
Cantore, who is in red-hot form to begin the 2024-25 season, scored her third league goal of the season 22 minutes later, jumping on a loose ball in the box to double Juve's lead.
It was Cantore's sixth goal in all comptitions so far this season, as she joined Cristiana Girelli — who was the one who had her shot denied by Ceasar moments before Cantore's goal — atop the team's scoring chart with three goals in league play.
After that, Juve leaned on their defense to close things out.
Swedish center back Emma Kullberg, one of the many summer signings who have played well since arriving in Turin, made a pair of blocks — with her head, no less — right before the halftime whistle blew.
Juve keeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin was only forced into a pair of saves, the second of which was a close-range effort from Roma's Elena Linari, who attempted a side volley off a loose ball within the 6-yard box only to not get much on it. Peyraud-Magnin was scrambling and was almost totally on her backside as Linari made contact with the ball, only to see the weak contact made for a relatively easy save.
Two minutes before Linari missed her big chance, Roma midfielder Manuela Giugliano, a Women's Ballon d'Or nominee, saw her free kick from outside the box leave PPM frozen but crash off the post.
Benedetta Glionna scored the only goal of the day for Roma right before the final whistle, marking the first time in the last three league games in which Juventus Women have allowed a goal.
To get this win ahead of a big-time trip to Germany to face Bayern Munich in the Women's Champions League next Wednesday speaks volumes to how much better this team is than much of last season when it saw things simply fall apart on multiple levels both before and after Joe Montemurro's dismissal in February. The spirited hug shared between Girelli and Canzi after the final whistle only spoke to how much this win meant and how the vibes between the players and the new manager currently are at.
This four-game stretch the Juve women are currently in the middle of where they face both Roma and Inter as well as Bayern as their second UWCL group stage opponent has definitely been quite the early-season test for Canzi's squad. But so far, they continue to pass those tests — and Sunday was the latest example of that.
