Serie A
Result: Juventus 2-1 Fiorentina
Date: 20 April 2019
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Juventus have been crowned Serie A champions for the eighth successive season after defeating Fiorentina at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday evening.
It was a good start from the home side as they moved the ball around quickly and with plenty of confidence. Their first decent attempt came in the fourth minute. Federico Bernardeschi found space down the left-hand side and delivered to the back post for Cristiano Ronaldo but the Portuguese superstar skewed his first-time volley wide of the target. Soon after, Fiorentina took a shock lead to stun the home fans in to silence. Federico Chiesa was played in behind the Juve defence down the right-hand side before getting to the byline and squaring the ball in to the box. Wojcech Szczesny palmed the ball away and it fell kindly to Nikola Milenkovic who fired in to an empty net. The Bianconeri were giving away possession too easily and on one such occasion in the 11th minute, Fiorentina countered quickly with Chiesa in a three-on-one situation as he fed the ball in to Kevin Mirallas, but the Belgian's sweetly-struck shot went narrowly over the bar. 10 minutes later, the hosts were once again exposed on the break but Giovanni Simeone could not square the ball past Leonardo Bonucci for Chiesa to have an easy tap-in. Juve's problem appeared to be that no one was shielding the defence in midfield. Massimo Allegri's side levelled matters in the 37th minute when Alex Sandro stooped low to head Miralem Pjanic's corner in to the near post, which really should have been covered by Fiorentina keeper Alban Lafont. Shortly before half-time, Chiesa hit the cross-bar again with a powerful left-footed strike from inside the box as the Bianconeri were lucky to escape yet again. Juve came out for the second half with a stronger intent and were putting the visitors under pressure. Soon after the break, Pjanic lifted his cross deep to the back post for Can to attack, but the German midfielder could only guide his header over the bar. The Bianconeri took the lead in the 52nd minute. Can released Ronaldo down the right-hand side, who skipped past Dávid Hancko and drilled the ball across goal from the right-hand byline with the deflection off Germán Pezzella going in to the back of the net. Chiesa then found space in a promising position on the edge of the box on the hour mark, but his effort was straight at Szczesny. Shortly after that, Pjanic forced Lafont in to a smart save with a rising left-footed half-volley. Allegri's side controlled the rest of the game but couldn't create any further clear-cut opportunities. Fiorentina, however, came close in the closing stages. Simeone released Bryan Dabo in the box with a precise throughball. The midfielder struck a low effort at goal, but Szczesny sticked out a boot to divert it wide of the target to deny the visitors a point. 
