Serie A | Juventus 2-0 Genoa: Di Gregorio makes heroic return

Juventus closed to within a point of Como in fourth place with a 2-0 victory over Genoa, as Gleison Bremer and Weston McKennie scored, substitute Michele Di Gregorio saving a penalty.

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The Bianconeri were feeling the pressure after a 1-1 draw with Sassuolo left them in joint fifth place, although Como’s draw in Udine gave them the opportunity to close the gap on fourth. While they finally had a full squad to choose from, Dusan Vlahovic and Arek Milik were only ready for the bench. Genoa missed Brooke Norton-Cuffy, Maxwel Cornet and Benjamin Siegrist after a run of three wins in four games was ended by a home defeat to Udinese. It was a touchline reunion for Luciano Spalletti and his former Roma player Daniele De Rossi.

See how it all unfolded on the Liveblog.

It took just four minutes to break the deadlock, as after the first Gleison Bremer header was charged down, Khephren Thuram and Lloyd Kelly knocked it back into the box for another Bremer header, this one wrong-footing Justin Bijlow with a deflection off Johan Vasquez.

Thuram flashed just wide and Ruslan Malinovskyi’s powerful free kick was deflected for a corner, but Juventus added a second with a well-worked move.

Weston McKennie started it in the centre-circle sending Francisco Conceicao down the right, continued his run and was ready to sweep home the return pass from 12 yards off the inside of the right boot.

However, McKennie was booked soon after for a clumsy sliding tackle on Vasquez and will be suspended for the big match with Atalanta.

Kenan Yildiz had a couple of weak efforts straight at Bijlow, but McKennie wasted an astonishing chance on the stroke of half-time.

Conceicao’s cross to the far post was acrobatically knocked back at the by-line by Kenan Yildiz, but McKennie somehow turned over from point-blank range.

Moments later, Conceicao went for goal himself, an angled drive flashing across the face of goal to skim the back stick.

Michele Di Gregorio came on for the second half, as Mattia Perin sustained a slight calf issue.

Juve continued to pour forward, as first McKennie was sliding in unable to fully meet the Thuram knockdown in a free kick routine, then moments later Jonathan David’s screamer from the edge of the area thumped the inside of the far post.

Tommaso Baldanzi fired straight at Di Gregorio, while the Vasquez strike was charged down, along with a Vitinha volley from a corner.

Vlahovic was getting ready to come on when he felt a calf twinge in the warm-up, so Milik was introduced instead.

Bremer brought down Aaron Martin for a yellow card, but VAR confirmed the contact was on the line, which is part of the penalty area. Martin stepped up, but Di Gregorio marked his unexpected return with a huge double save, first on the Martin spot-kick, then the follow-up volley too. It means Genoa have failed to convert four of their eight Serie A penalties this season, with four different players missing.

Baldanzi made a big difference since coming on for Genoa and was brought down by Thuram this time inches outside the box.

Arkadiusz Milik spotted Bijlow off his line and attempted an audacious lob from the centre-circle, which the Genoa goalkeeper scrambled back to claw away.

Juventus 2-0 Genoa

Bremer 4 (J), McKennie 17 (J)

Saved penalty: Martin 75 (G)