Alvaro Morata made an immediate impact off the bench in Juventus’ 3-0 win against Spezia, on Tuesday. Federico Chiesa and Christiano Ronaldo were the others to score on the day.
Frederico Bernadeschi assisted twice after coming off the bench with Morata. The win comes at a time when Juventus’ title challenge for the season has almost run out of steam.
Juventus’s Predicament
Andrea Pirlo’s side has been plagued with several major players being injured. Morata too had to sit out last week’s draw against Hellas Verona. This week, however, he had recovered enough from his illness to have been included as a substitute. This goal also ends his recent drought in the league since the end of last year.
Morata stated that even though he was happy with the goal, there is still much to play for this season. He pointed out that it is going to be difficult with all the injuries. Juventus is now third in the league, seven points from first placed Inter Milan, and trailing by three from AC Milan.
The visitors had started better and had put on more pressure for the first forty-five minutes. In the dying moments, Juventus goalkeeper Sczesny kept out a penalty to keep his clean sheet. With the loss, Spezia is now seven points from being relegated.
However, Pirlo decided to bring on Bernadeschi and Morata in place of Weston McKenna and Gianluca Frabotta in the 61st minute of the game. The change proved match-defining, as Bernadeschi immediately latched onto a loose ball to set up Morata. A little less than ten minutes on, Bernadeschi assisted Chiesa with a cross for the second. Ronaldo put the match to rest with a powerful shot with a minute remaining on the clock.
