New boys fire Juve into top four, Napoli on Inter's heels

The duo made sure that Juve took advantage of Atalanta falling to a shock 2-1 home defeat to lowly Cagliari by beating spirited Verona in Turin to take their place in the top four.

Serbia forward Vlahovic took just 12 minutes at a foggy Allianz Stadium to show why Juve shelled out an initial 70 million euros to snatch him from Fiorentina, racing onto Paulo Dybala's chipped through ball before sending a delicate lofted finish over Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipo.

Zakaria, who arrived for 4.5 million euros from Borussia Moenchengladbach on transfer deadline day, sealed the points in the 61st minute when he was sent clean through on goal by Alvaro Morata and lashed home a precise finish which put Juve two points ahead of fifth-placed Atalanta.

 

February 6, 2022

Massimiliano Allegri's side have played a game more than Atalanta, and travel to Bergamo next weekend to face a team who were blasted by coach Gian Piero Gasperini as "not good enough" following their loss to Cagliari.

Vlahovic's 18th league strike of the season puts him level with Lazio's Ciro Immobile in the hunt for Italy's 'Capocannoniere' scoring award.

The 22-year-old should have added to his total shortly before half-time after superb interplay between Dybala and Morata led to the latter whipping over a perfect cross to their new strike partner.

However Vlahovic could only glance wide, leaving the door open for Verona - missing key players Giovanni Simeone and Gianluca Caprari - that was only closed once Zakaria struck.

 

February 6, 2022