Serie A | Juventus 3-1 Udinese: Managerless Old Lady rediscovers success

Juventus started the post-Igor Tudor era with their first win in over a month, as Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti and Kenan Yildiz dismantled Udinese.

The Bianconeri were under caretaker manager Massimo Brambilla, the coach of their Next Gen team, after Monday’s sacking of Igor Tudor and three consecutive defeats in all competition. Khephren Thuram joined Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Arek Milik and Carlo Pinsoglio on the treatment table, with Kenan Yildiz returning, but Filip Kostic got his first start of the season with Lois Openda rather than Jonathan David. Udinese were unbeaten in three, coming off a 3-2 victory against Lecce, but Thomas Kristensen and Iker Bravo missed out, with Oumar Solet not at 100 per cent.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It was a lightning start for the Old Lady, as in the opening minutes Openda found Vlahovic, brought down by Saba Goglichidze for a penalty which the Serbian converted successfully.

Openda was a lively presence in attack, while Vlahovic had the ball in the net on 17 minutes only after the offside flag had gone up.

Nicolò Zaniolo saw his strike deflected from the edge of the area, but Udinese lost Keinan Davis to a muscular injury.

Kostic with his first Serie A start of the season almost scored with a daisy-cutter, drawing a great fingertip save out of Maduka Okoye. Moments later Okoye was called into action again when Vlahovic sprung the offside trap on a Manuel Locatelli pass to go one-on-one, the goalkeeper sticking out a foot to parry.

However, Udinese equalised in first half stoppages when Juve got into a tangle playing their way out from the back, and after Buksa’s effort was charged down into his path, Zaniolo took a touch before bending the left-foot finish into the far bottom corner.

The visitors threatened again after the restart, Michele Di Gregorio having to fingertip a Goglichidze header round the near post after a free kick. Goglichidze also fired over from the resulting corner.

Juve responded, a defensive block decisive to stop Openda’s back-heel flick from four yards. On the resulting corner, Openda again had an effort charged down in the penalty area.

Openda tried to roll across rather than go for goal in a very promising position, testing Okoye only on the rebound when that was intercepted, then the Udinese goalkeeper palmed a powerful Pierre Kalulu strike away.

On the resulting corner, Andrea Cambiaso floated a cross to the back post for Federico Gatti’s header from a tricky angle, surprising Okoye.

Kenan Yildiz hit a solo effort that again tested the Udinese goalkeeper, then his low finish through Goglichidze’s legs clipped the base of the upright.

The Friulani very nearly equalised in the final minute, as Bayo’s header from a corner flashed inches wide of the far post with Di Gregorio well beaten.

Kenan Yildiz fired over when he could’ve rolled across for substitute Jonathan David, then went on a slalom in the penalty area and went down in a coming together with Goglichidze. Initially, the referee had given a foul against the Juve man, but saw on the VAR review that it was the Turkish talent who got there first. Kenan Yildiz converted the penalty himself to end this negative Bianconeri streak.

Vlahovic pen 5 (J), Zaniolo 45 (U), Gatti 67 (J), Kenan Yildiz pen 96 (J)