Ghana midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah help Juventus to a second straight Italian Super Cup triumph with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Lazio on Sunday.
The skillful midfielder lasted the entire duration of the match played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Goals from Paul Pogba, Georgios Chiellini, Stephan Lichtsteiner and a debut goal for Carlos Tevez sealed the comfortable win over Lazio.
Mirko Vucinicpartnered new buy Carlos Tevez while Lazio had Argentina international Lucas Biglia supporting Miroslav Klose.
Although the Stadio Olimpico is the Biancocelesti’s home venue, it is considered ‘neutral’ for this tournament as the arena for the Coppa Italia Final.
In the third minute Tevez took a free kick quickly to surprise the defence, butVucinic blasted over. Arturo Vidal intercepted a Cristian Ledesma free kick before Andre Dias could nod in at the back post.
Claudio Marchisio suffered a knock to the knee in a collision with Stefan Raduand was visibly frustrated as he hobbled off to make way for Paul Pogba.
The Frenchman was only on the field for under three minutes when he broke the deadlock.
Andrea Pirlo rolled a free kick to Stephan Lichtsteiner, whose deflected cross landed into the path of Pogba and the Under-20 World Cup winner spun round to score from 12 yards. It was a well-worked set-piece, as everyone was expecting Pirlo to curl it over the wall.
Gigi Buffon needed a sensational fingertip save with his trailing hand to turn a Stefan Radu rocket out of the far top corner on 33 minutes.
Juventus doubled their lead after the restart with a classic counter-attack.
Lichtsteiner sprinted up from the centre-circle and rolled across for Giorgio Chiellini to tap in from eight yards. It was his fourth career goal past Lazio, confirming them as his favourite targets.
Moments later it was 3-0, as Lazio seemed to be completely stunned.
Lichtsteiner sprung the offside trap with a wonderful give-and-go pass withVucinic and rolled it past the on-rushing Marchetti.
It turned into a rout, as Tevez scored on his official Juventus debut for the fourth.
Marchetti acrobatically parried a Lichtsteiner strike, then Pogba from close range until Tevez sidefooted in the rebound from seven yards.
Referee Rocchi had seen enough of the thrashing and decided to end the game even before the 90 th minute to hand Juventus their first silverware ahead of the start of their Serie-A title defence which begins at the weekend.
This is however the second straight Italian Super Cup success for Ghana midfielder Kwadwo Asamoah since joining Juventus at the start of last season.
Lazio were torn apart and Marchetti needed a shin to deny Arturo Vidal’s shot with Tevez’s spectacular volley moments later going over the bar.
Juventus: Buffon; Barzagli (Caceres 75), Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner(Ogbonna 82), Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio (Pogba 20), Asamoah; Tevez, Vucinic
Lazio: Marchetti; Cavanda, Biava, Dias, Radu (Ederson 57); Biglia (Onazi 71),Ledesma (Floccari 57); Candreva, Hernanes, Lulic; Klose
Leave a comment. 0 comment so far.