Double delight for Dusan Vlahovic as Juventus see off Lecce

By Sports Desk January 21, 2024

The in-form Dusan Vlahovic struck twice in the second half as Juventus moved to the top of Serie A with a 3-0 victory over Lecce.

Juventus were frustrated for much of the first half as they looked for their fifth successive victory in the league.

The away side had to wait until the hour mark before Vlahovic made his mark on the game. He quickly added another for his 11th goal of the campaign, and second successive brace, and Gleison Bremer’s late header added the icing on the cake to lift Juventus above Inter Milan at the summit.

Juventus could have opened the scoring in the first minute after Vlahovic got on the end of a cross but could not quite guide his first-time effort on target.

Lecce threatened five minutes in as Nikola Krstovic found himself in space on the edge of the area but shot just wide.

Juventus were next to go close in the 13th minute but Filip Kostic’s strike from just inside the area kept rising over the bar. Krstovic found himself with another chance but once again lifted an effort over the crossbar.

Juventus created the first chance of the second period when an inswinging corner found the head of Weston McKennie but he nodded straight at keeper Wladimiro Falcone, who was comfortably able to deal with the danger.

The away side were having a little more joy breaking down the Lecce defence in the second period and had another chance a couple of minutes later but Vlahovic guided his diving header just wide of the far post.

Juventus broke the deadlock on the hour mark when Andrea Cambiaso lifted the ball into the box and Vlahovic volleyed into the ground and into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

Juve doubled their advantage in the 68th minute as Kostic’s cross was lifted towards McKennie at the back post, who headed across for Vlahovic to tap home his second of the evening.

The visitors claimed their 16th win of the season and added a third goal in the 85th minute when Samuel Iling-Junior’s free-kick found Bremer, who bulleted a header past Falcone.

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