An Alessandro Matri double means Juventus came away with three points as the top two – Juve and AC Milan – break clear of the pack for the Scudetto.
With 19 of the 38 games played, Juventus headed into their Saturday night match as the league’s ‘Winter champions’ but coach Antonio Conte knew that their unbeaten run would be tested by Serie A’s perennial overachievers, Udine’s ‘Little Zebras’.
Despite their 4th place finish last season, Udinese would have been forgiven if they struggled this year following the loss of Cristian Zapata to Villareal, Gokhan Inler to Napoli and Alexis Sanchez to Barcelona.
However, the goals have kept flowing for last season’s Serie A top scorer, Antonio Di Natale, who has 14 goals this campaign and Juve boss Conte knew that victory in Turin for their Friulian opponents would see them draw level with his side on 41 points.
“The Udinese game is worth 6 points instead of the normal 3; they are direct rivals. The league standings show how big this is,” said Conte before the game.
“Udinese are fighting for the top targets and not just recently. We respect our opponents. This is a top-of-the-table clash, a six-pointer. We have to keep surprising people and doing the amazing things we did in the first half of the season. Because we have achieved great things, that’s a fact.”
For Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin, Juve are currently the only blemish on his otherwise perfect home record – with nine wins and one draw at the Friuli stadium so far this season, only their 0-0 in their rescheduled weekday 1 game against Juventus played on 21 December prevented a 10/10 scorecard.
Looking forward to the encounter, Guidolin was keen to show respect for what Juve are achieving as a club both off the field as well as on, particularly with regard to their new stadium: “It will be the first time that I have seen Juve’s stadium live.
“Everyone says that it is wonderful and that the fans really get behind the team, but even before they had built it I said that Juve was a forward-looking club because they were going to build their own stadium, a structure that increases the sense of belonging by recreating the atmosphere typical of the grounds of northern Europe we all like so much.
“And so Juve as a club is ahead of everyone else, you have to admire what Juve are doing, but it should not come as a surprise”.
Referring more specifically to the challenge facing his side on the field, especially with key players missing throughout his side, Guidolin outlined his philosophy: “We will try to play a fast match with quick breaks from defence, but a lot of course depends on what your opponents allow you to do and they might close as in our own half for 90 minutes.
“My professional philosophy is not to keep play in midfield and wait for the time to pass, but unfortunately I have frequently had to face opponents who impose their own tempo and temperament on the game. It is important for us to want to overcome the difficulties. I do not know if we will manage to do that, but the desire will be there in Turin.
“Our spirit will be to play to our strengths, to play quickly and enterprisingly, getting the ball regularly up to Di Natale. We will be up against a solid, very compact team. We must have the strength not to give in and we must attack them every time we have the chance”.
Unfortunately for his Udinese side, Juventus emerged victorious from the snow-covered encounter but it was not for the lack of trying. Floro Flores cancelled out Alessandro Matri’s opener with those goals coming either side of the interval but the introduction of Claudio Marchisio led to another Matri goal six minutes after the Udinese equaliser and ensured the points stayed with the home side.
So rather than pull level with Juventus, the loss saw Udinese fall six points behind the league leaders and with AC Milan despatching Cagliari with ease in their Sunday fixture, there is now some daylight between the top two and the chasing pack as Inter, Roma and Napoli also dropped points.
While seeing off Udinese, Conte still worries that the non-stop series of games is starting to prove costly, with mistakes creeping into his side’s play.
“Lichtsteiner plays a costly role,” he said. “He’s played 3 games in 7 days, pushing and covering. Perhaps it’s starting to weigh on him a bit. Vidal? He made the horizontal pass that sparked Udinese’s goal, but he took to the pitch giving maximum commitment.
Juve fear AC Milan’s ‘Gulliver’
While Conte feels that maximum commitment and teamwork is propelling his side forward, he senses that their Milan rivals are progressing with more ease: “We play as a team and for the team, and we earn our results through sweat. I’m surprised by how easy it is for AC Milan to win, despite their absences.”
Believing Milan to have better individuals, the key figure in the Milan side remains Ibrahimavic with Conte full of praise for the Swede: “Watching Ibrahimovic, I get the sensation of seeing Gulliver; he’s a giant. It’s scary the way that he can make a difference. Ibra is a true champion”.
His opposite number at Milan, Massimilano Allegri, viewed Conte’s compliments with suspicion as he responded: “I don’t know what his aim is. And I don’t care. I think that Juve are having a great season. He has managed to instil in his players his ideas.
“The table shows that we are one point behind them and that there can be no slip-ups. There are still a lot of matches, but at the moment they are slightly favourites because we now have a very difficult fixture list coming up. Moreover, they are still unbeaten and have the best defence. But let’s talk about it again on 26 February”.
AC Milan travel to Rome on Wednesday night to take on a Lazio side currently in 4th position and with Champions League qualification on their mind and they then follow that game up with a weekend fixture against Napoli in the San Siro.
Having put daylight between themselves and Udinese last weekend, Antonio Conte will surely be hoping that two tough games for the Rossoneri might allow his Juve side to open up a gap to their nearest challengers – but expect ‘Gulliver’ to have a giant say in that too.
Weekend Results:
Fiorentina 2-1 Siena, AS Roma 1-1 Bologna, Cesena 0-1 Atalanta, Chievo Verona 0-3 Lazio, Genoa 3-2 Napoli, Lecce 1-0 Internazionale, Palermo 2-0 Novara, AC Milan 3-0 Cagliari, Catania 1-1 Parma, Juventus 2-1 Udinese
Fixtures
Tuesday, January 31
Parma P-P Juventus (postponed due to heavy snow)
Wednesday, February 1
Atalanta v Genoa
Bologna v Fiorentina
Cagliari v AS Roma
Inter v Palermo
Lazio v AC Milan
Napoli v Cesena
Siena v Catania
Udinese v Lecce
Thursday, February 2
Novara v Chievo Verona
Saturday, February 4
Cesena v Catania
AS Roma v Inter
Sunday, February 5
Genoa v Lazio
Chievo Verona v Parma
Fiorentina v Udinese
Juventus v Siena
Lecce v Bologna
Novara v Cagliari
Palermo v Atalanta
AC Milan v Napoli
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