Juventus 1-2 Catania: Sicilian Steel Brings Down Struggling Juventus

The Turin club dropped even more points in their bid to capture the Scudetto...

Dec 20, 2009 3:57:00 PM

More On :  Catania, Juventus
Diego & Martinez - Juventus-Catania - Serie A (Getty Images)
Juventus 1-2 Catania - Lineups & Stats
Serie A Fixtures/Results


Both sides succumbed to defeat last week and were looking to get back on track, the Bianconeri to reignite their title challenge and the Etnei to avoid being relegated at the end of the campaign.

Juventus had to deal with the absences of stars Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini. Meanwhile, Catania were without influential forward Giuseppe Mascara due to suspension.

Cristian Llama's ball over the top had the host defence scrambling, but Legrottaglie nicked the ball away as Takayuki Morimoto was closing in on goal.

On a seemingly innocuous freekick, Catania were awarded a penalty for a shirt pull on Nicolas Spolli in the box. Jorge Martinez had to convert twice, after the referee ordered a re-take, but it was 1-0 to the Sicilians.

The Bianconeri nearly leveled the score through a Fabio Cannavaro bicycle-kick, but the ball ricocheted off of the offside David Trezeguet. Then Amauri nearly poked home before a last-ditch clearance from Pablo Alavarez as the Turin outfit increased the pressure.

The much-maligned Felipe Melo did not seem to be injured, but was replaced by Hasan Samihamidzic after just half-an-hour and was whistled off the pitch. The Brazilian had misplaces several passes early on.

The Juve players were jeered off the pitch at half-time by the fans in the stadium, after failing to break down the Rossoazzurri defence.


Martinez scored from the spot

At the beginning of the second-half, Diego spurned Juventus' best chance thus far, when he one-timed a low cross for Caceres over the bar from a good position. La Vecchia Signora continued to search for an equaliser, as Trezeguet brilliantly set up Amauri, but Andujar did well to save.

Finally, the Bianconeri found their goal, Diego supplied a perfect assist for seldom-used Salihamidzic, who beat the offside trap and slotted past the Catania shot stopper with 25 minutes left.

After a clash with Andujar, Trezeguet decided to continue despite requiring heavy bandaging on his head, as the Bianconeri had no more substitutions after bringing on Alessandro Del Piero and Sebastian Giovinco.

It was the 'Atomic Ant' who split the defence, but the recently injured Frenchman could not convert.

Against the run of play, Catania took the lead late on counter. Substitute Mariano Izco ran onto a through ball and lifted the ball over Alex Manninger on 86 minutes!

There were six minutes of added on time, but the Bianconeri could not captalise despite throwing everyone forward and were dealt another heavy blow with their fifth loss of the Serie A campaign.

Adam Scime, Goal.com
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