ROME (AP) — New Juventus coach Igor Tudor had a direct role in the Bianconeri's first goal since he replaced the fired Thiago Motta.
Tudor was quick to gather a ball on the sideline and toss it to Teun Koopmeiners for a throw-in that bounced off Dusan Vlahovic and into the path of Kenan Yildiz. He dribbled through the defense before scoring from a tight angle midway through the first half.
“It just happened," Tudor said. "It wasn't something we practiced.”
The goal ended up being decisive in a 1-0 win against Genoa during Tudor's debut in Serie A on Saturday.
The result was a sharp turnaround from 4-0 and 3-0 losses in Juventus’ two previous matches, which led to Motta's firing.
The Bianconeri conceded only one decent chance to a Genoa team coached by former Juventus player Patrick Vieira — an acrobatic effort from Andrea Pinamonti at the start of the second half that barely missed the target.
Juventus then nearly doubled the lead with a series of chances in the final minutes.
“I’m very satisfied, because Genoa is a serious squad that is doing well, and they run,” Tudor said. “We’ve had two or three training sessions and there’s been some enthusiasm, but you don’t get over a period like that in two or three days. We need to get over it by working hard.”
Juventus remained fifth, one point behind Bologna, which won at Venezia 1-0 earlier.
Vlahovic and Yildiz, who both struggled under Motta, were given more responsibility by Tudor and immediately repaid the new coach.
A negative note for Juventus was an apparent injury to key defender Federico Gatti during the first half.
Bologna won its fifth straight with a second-half volley from Riccardo Orsolini.
Como and Empoli drew 1-1.
Police intervened to avoid clashes between rival fans ahead of Roma’s match at Lecce later.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
