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Following a two-week hiatus due to the international break, Juventus returned to Serie A action and resumed their defence of the league title as they hosted Bologna at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
The Turin giants established a 2-1 win over the Emilia-Romagna outfit thereby strengthening their place at the top of the table and extending their unbeaten start to the new campaign. The reigning Italian champions are currently unbeaten in eight games and have accumulated 22 points in the process.
Cristiano Ronaldo secured the opener for the Old Lady but an equaliser immediately followed courtesy of Danilo's half-volley six minutes later. A chaotic Miralem Pjanic goal in the second half was, however, enough to make sure all three points were won for the hosts.
Maurizio Sarri's men had previously knocked all the shine off closest competitors, Inter Milan, by beating them 2-1 before the international break. The Bianconeri now stand four points clear at the top of the Italian top-flight with the Nerazzurri set to play Sassuolo on Sunday.
In this article, we take a look at players who either impressed or flopped during the game:
Impressed: Gianluigi Buffon
Over the summer, Gianluigi Buffon made a sensational return to Juventus, which served as his home for seventeen years, following a one-year stint with Ligue 1 giants, Paris Saint-Germain.
The 41-year-old goalkeeper had already established his status as a legend at the club but despite having nothing to prove to his supporters, he reinforced his position within the squad against Bologna by preventing the Bianconeri from losing points.
Buffon may have conceded a goal in the first half but the Rossoblu's equaliser could hardly be blamed on the Italian icon as Danilo's strike was far beyond his reach. He soon made up for the conceded goal by denying Paraguay forward Federico Santander's attempt at goal after his stoppage-time header for Bologna hit the crossbar. The ball rebounded off the woodwork to the forward, who pursued an overhead kick, only for the former PSG shot-stopper to put an acrobatic stop to the effort.
The save, which was the game's final act, undoubtedly helped the Old Lady keep all three points and was the highlight of Buffon's performance in what was an otherwise quiet and uneventful night for the Italian.
Impressed: Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo has long been a recurring presence in the conversation surrounding game-changing performances and has once again underlined his importance within the team by netting a stunning opener that fired the Old Lady into an early lead against Bologna.
The 34-year-old forward cleverly stole the ball off Ladislav Krejci and dribbled down the right before hammering a strike towards the bottom right corner of the net.
Ronaldo made sure he was a constant threat to the Bologna defence and was close to completing a brace towards the end of the game. Gonzalo Higuain provided him with the ball and the Portuguese forward powered it towards the goal in an effort that was brilliantly tipped away by Skorupski.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner may have been guilty of giving away a few cheap balls throughout the match but not much can be criticised about a man who was capable of putting up a productive display for the entire game despite having featured in international games for his country in the last two weeks.
Poor: Adrien Rabiot
Adrien Rabiot joined Juventus from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer over the summer, but he is yet to find his feet in Turin. The Frenchman, who was an unused substitute during the Bianconeri’s 2-1 win over Inter Milan before the international break, had a relatively quiet game against Bologna.
Despite the fact that the 24-year-old had an 88 per cent successful pass completion rate in the game, he ultimately didn’t make much of a difference going forward for the Italian champions. The former PSG man looked uneasy on the ball at times and was also guilty of giving possession away cheaply on a few occasions.
Rabiot, who also received a booking in the first half, was taken off in the 73rd minute by Juventus boss Maurizio Sarri. The former PSG man is yet to score or provide an assist for his new employers, with the French international completing 90 minutes on just one occasion so far this season.
It remains to be seen if Sarri sticks with Rabiot in his starting line-up for Juventus’ upcoming Champions League game against Lokomotiv Moscow on Wednesday night.
Impressed: Lukasz Skorupski
Lukasz Skorupski put in a splendid performance at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday night as he kept Bologna in the game until the final whistle. Although the visitors lost the fixture 2-1, the scoreline could have been much worse if not for the heroics of the Poland international between the sticks.
While the former Roma shot-stopper could have done better to keep Cristiano Ronaldo’s effort from going into the back of the net in the first half, he was not at fault for Miralem Pjanic’s goal.
Skorupski made a string of fine saves to keep Juventus from adding to their tally, including a stunning double save to deny Gonzalo Higuain in the second half. His heroics would have been ideally rewarded if Bologna managed to make the most of their chances towards the end of the game when they piled on the pressure on the hosts.
The 28-year-old custodian deserves a pat on his back despite failing to keep his third clean sheet in Serie A this season.
Poor: Roberto Soriano
Roberto Soriano, who was snapped up by the Rossoblu during the summer transfer window, had a game to forget against Juventus.
The former Villarreal man missed Bologna’s 2-2 draw with Lazio before the international break but was drafted straight back into the starting line-up for their crunch game against the defending champions. The 28-year-old failed to provide any threat for the visitors going forward and often looked out of ideas in the opposition half.
The Darmstadt-born player’s most significant contribution in the game was his direct involvement in the Old Lady's second goal. The midfielder played a needless back-pass which was intercepted by Ronaldo, whose deflected effort fell in the path of Pjanic who made no mistake in slotting the ball home from close range.
Soriano, who has so far registered one goal and one assist in the league for Bologna this season, was arguably the worst performer on the pitch during the game.
