A splendid victory!
Relying on goals from Timothy Weah and M'Bala M'Bala N'Siangou, Serie A giants Juventus comfortably defeated their old rivals AC Milan 2-0 at home, securing their first victory of 2025 and temporarily surpassing Lazio, who have a game in hand, to rise to fourth place in the league table.
In this match, Juventus' new signing Alberto Costa, brought in during the winter transfer window, was included in the squad but unfortunately did not make an appearance. The recovered Dusan Vlahovic was on standby on the bench. Coach Thiago Motta continued to use the 4231 formation, with Mattia Perin guarding the goal, and the four defenders were Weston McKennie, Gleison Bremer, Matthijs de Ligt, and Danilo, who is embroiled in transfer rumors. Manuel Locatelli and Arthur formed the double pivot in midfield, while Federico Chiesa, Paulo Dybala, and M'Bala M'Bala N'Siangou took up the attacking midfield roles, and Alvaro Morata led the line to attack the fortress.
In the 7th minute, M'Bala M'Bala N'Siangou made space on the left side of the penalty area with consecutive feints and took a wonderful shot that narrowly missed the target, signaling the start of Juventus' offensive for the whole game.
In the 10th minute, AC Milan responded in kind, with Brahim Diaz initiating the attack, and Rafael Leao turned and shot inside the box, which was blocked by Matthijs de Ligt with his body.
In the 35th minute, Juventus launched a counterattack, and Federico Chiesa's direct shot from the back post was valiantly saved by Mike Maignan.
After the break, Juventus made adjustments, with Timothy Weah replacing Federico Chiesa. According to post-match reports from Italian media, Chiesa was substituted due to slight discomfort in his adductor muscle, and Motta made the change out of protection.
In the 59th minute, Juventus had a golden opportunity to score when Manuel Locatelli and Alvaro Morata connected, and the latter passed the ball to M'Bala M'Bala N'Siangou, who was waiting to enter the penalty area. "The New King" received the ball and directly curled a shot past Mike Maignan. Slow-motion replays showed that M'Bala M'Bala N'Siangou's shot hit the heel of Milan defender Emerson and changed direction, giving Juventus a 1-0 lead on the field.
Five minutes later, Juventus scored again, with Manuel Locatelli cleverly threading a pass from halfway, and Timothy Weah, facing the ball, broke into the Milan penalty area, easily scoring with his left foot against the defense of Mike Maignan and the blocking of Milan's defenders, extending the score to 2-0.
In the subsequent game, Juventus successively replaced Federico Chiesa, Alvaro Morata, M'Bala M'Bala N'Siangou, and Manuel Locatelli with Moise Kean, Dusan Vlahovic, Arthur, and Adrien Rabiot, but unfortunately, they could not find a way to continuously breach Milan's goal.
In the end, Juventus defeated AC Milan 2-0 at home, saving face after losing to their opponents in the semi-finals of the Supercoppa Italiana earlier this month. At the same time, Motta also briefly removed the hat of being a "draw master," happily accepting his eighth victory of the season.
After the game, M'Bala M'Bala N'Siangou, who scored a wonderful goal, was named the best player of the match, and his outstanding performance proved to all Juventus fans:
"My future is still with Juventus!"
In the next game, Motta will lead the team to challenge Bruges, their Champions League opponents, away from home, and only a victory can keep the hope of directly advancing to the next stage of the competition.
I hope that M'Bala M'Bala N'Siangou and Timothy Weah, who are getting better and better, can continue to maintain their good form from this game and send the best Spring Festival gift to Juventus fans with their goals.