It was the home side that enjoyed the brighter start, as Chris Smalling nodded an early corner across, but Tammy Abraham failed to connect strongly enough to convert. If that wasn’t a warning, the England striker followed that up by flicking the opening goal from another beautifully delivered corner from Jordan Veretout. Roma were all over Juve in the opening stages, but in a blink of an eye, ‘I Bianconeri’ drew level with a lovely curling strike by Paulo Dybala.
However, ‘La Vecchia Signora’ were dealt a blow when playmaker Federico Chiesa limped off injured just after the half-hour mark. Roma were still causing problems despite conceding, with Juve’s zonal marking looking increasingly shaky every time the hosts took a set-piece. Just three minutes into the second half, Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s driving run and deflected shot put the home side back in front to stun the visitors. Moments later, Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini curled a beautiful free-kick past Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny to give his side a two-goal advantage.
Juve weren’t about to give away the three points and began their fightback when Manuel Locatelli headed in Álvaro Morata’s cross to reduce the arrears. Dejan Kulusevski’s strike was checked by VAR for offside but it was granted as Juventus drew level. To cap off a dramatic seven-minute comeback, Mattia de Sciglio thrashed home the winning goal to stun the Stadio Olimpico.
There was enough time for Roma to get a penalty after Matthijs de Ligt received a second yellow card for handball, but Szczęsny saved a weak effort from Pellegrini, who then missed the follow-up. Roma continued to push for an equaliser, but Juventus saw out the victory that sees them extend their unbeaten run to seven SA games, placing them just three points behind Atalanta in the battle for the top four.
