Despite a spectacular first-half comeback from Serie A's lowest scorers, Juventus held off a tenacious Sampdoria team to win 4-2 in Turin, bringing the Old Lady to within four points of the European spots.
In the days leading up to the game, the mood inside the Allianz Stadium was quiet, with Juventus fans anticipating a simple evening and the bulk of the visiting team seeming to have remained in Genoa in protest at La Samp's present position.
Despite the seeming imbalance, Manolo Gabbiadini was given two outstanding chances in the first ten minutes. Having gotten beyond the defense, he first dragged a shot wide before firing straight at Mattia Perin with Filip Urii supporting and perhaps in a better position to score.
The odds were stacked against the Blucerchiati—they were 12 points from Serie A safety and playing the record champions—and their early opportunities were in vain since they went behind shortly after. Gleison Bremer towered higher than the others to smash a header past Sampdoria goalkeeper Martin Turk after Filip Kosti delivered a dangerous corner.
Adrien Rabiot quickly made it two for the Bianconeri when he headed Fabio Miretti's free kick back across goal and into the far corner as Juventus thought they had the better of their opponents in the air.
Sampdoria needed something special to get back in the game since they had scored the fewest goals of any team in the top five leagues in Europe. They started a valiant comeback within a short period of time. Before the Juve players could gather their breath, Tommaso Augello cut the lead in half with a shot into the far corner. Then, urii capitalized on some excellent work by Alessandro Zanoli to score an improbable equalizer past Perin.
The visitors fought fiercely in the early going because they thought they might win the game in the second half. Juventus has the talent of a top-four team, despite languishing in seventh place as a result of their points deduction, and they grabbed the lead when Rabiot calmly volleyed in a goal from the outside of the box, although under suspicion of a handball. Sampdoria's season would have certainly ended with the restoration of a two-goal edge, and it seemed that way when Juventus was granted a penalty. But, Ivan Vlahovi, who had gone five games without scoring, smacked his attempt against the post.
With a header in stoppage time, 19-year-old Matas Soulé made it 4-2 but there would be no more serious danger from the visitors, who fell to their eleventh straight loss in Serie A and may see this as a squandered chance to reenergize their battle for survival.
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