Serie A | Juventus 5-0 Cremonese: Spectacular Manita declares Scudetto ambition

Juventus declared their Scudetto ambitions after demolishing Cremonese 5-0 to catch Roma and Napoli, including another Jonathan David goal and impressive Weston McKennie.

The Bianconeri crushed Sassuolo 3-0 in the midweek round, as Jonathan David found the net to shake off the missed penalty in their 1-1 draw with Lecce. Francisco Conceicao, Dusan Vlahovic, Federico Gatti, Daniele Rugani and Arek Milik were still out of action, but Lloyd Kelly returned to defence, with Fabio Miretti again used as a trequartista. Jamie Vardy spearheaded the Cremonese attack just days after his 39^th birthday, missing Martin Payero with flu symptoms after the team fumbled a 2-0 lead to draw with Genoa midweek.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

David almost opened the scoring after six minutes when he intercepted a disastrous Dennis Johnsen back-pass, but Emil Audero did enough to steer him wide and his finish could only hit the near post.

Andrea Cambiaso returned the favour at the other end with Alessio Zerbin reading his weak pass back, but Michele Di Gregorio rushed out to smother the danger.

Audero used his legs to parry a Weston McKennie angled drive, but Juve took the lead in bizarre circumstances.

A free kick was cleared to the edge of the area, where Miretti’s ferocious volley seemed to be going off target, until it hit Bremer on the head and completely wrong-footed Audero. The two teammates had a good laugh about the goal, as Bremer didn’t seem to know much about it.

Cremonese poured forward seeking an equaliser, but instead left themselves open to the Khephren Thuram counter-attack from his own half, laying it off for David down the left to take a touch and sweep past the on-rushing goalkeeper.

Cremonese were awarded a penalty when Johnsen had a very heavy first touch in the box and Manuel Locatelli went sliding in, but following the VAR review, the referee noted the Juventus midfielder got the ball first. It infuriated Cremonese coach Davide Nicola, who was sent off for dissent.

He wasn’t there to protest an even more controversial decision, because the Bianconeri did receive a penalty for handball even though the Thuram shot hit Federico Baschirotto on the leg and completely changed direction to ricochet onto the raised arm. Kenan Yildiz stepped up and his penalty bounced off the base of the upright, but as it grazed Audero’s hand, the Juve man was allowed to turn in the rebound.

Yildiz tested Audero again at the near post after a strong run from the left shrugging off defenders, but the Bianconeri did double their lead straight after the restart.

Miretti was again involved, his inspired through ball sending McKennie through the middle, dribbling around Audero and squeezing in the finish from the tightest of angles, despite Filippo Terracciano’s desperate attempt to clear off the line, which is why it was credited as an own goal.

McKennie’s weak finish failed to trouble Audero, but Yildiz certainly did with a powerful curler stinging his gloves.

The Lega Serie A couldn’t take the fifth goal away from McKennie, because he steered his header into the far bottom corner from 12 yards on Pierre Kalulu’s cross from the right. Juve hadn’t scored five goals in a single Serie A match since February 2018, beating Sassuolo 7-0.

Cremonese tried to the bitter end, as Alberto Grassi forced a fantastic one-handed save from Michele Di Gregorio, then had the ball in the net on the resulting corner only after an obvious Bianchetti handling offence.

Juve also had a goal disallowed, as David was offside on the Miretti through ball when lashing in from a tricky angle.

Juventus 5-0 Cremonese

Bremer 12 (J), David 15 (J), Yildiz 35 (J), Terracciano og 48 (J), McKennie 64 (J)

Missed penalty: Yildiz 35 (J)