Siena 0-1 Juventus: Late Amauri Header Wins The Day For Juve

Amauri won the day in Tuscany

The Old Lady stay third.
Oct 25, 2009 12:00:00 PM

Siena 0-1 Juventus Lineups/Stats
Serie A Table/Results

Juventus ended their poor run of form in Serie A with a 1-0 win over Siena at at the Stadio Franchi, as Amauri headed home 17 minutes from time.

The visitors, without a league win in four, came into this game having fallen seven points behind league leaders Inter. There were injury problems as Tiago, Alessandro Del Piero, Claudio Marchisio, Hasan Salihamidizic and Jonathan Zebina were out. Amauri returned to the starting XI, while Fabio Cannavaro and Momo Sissoko were rested.

Siena were languishing in the relegation zone with just two points from their last six games, and they had to do without the suspended Michele Fini and Abdelkader Ghezzal, and injured Luca Rossettini and Anssi Jaakola. There were reports that another defeat here could result in the sack for coach Marco Giampaolo.

There was a labored start with the first effort not being registered until the 11th minute when David Trezeguet saw a shot charged down by Daniele Ficagna.

Midway through the half there was an opening at the back post as Paolo De Ceglie found himself all alone, but the youngster slipped and sliced horribly wide.

Juventus started to up their game, and Diego blazed over from the edge of the area. The Brazilian then released Cristian Molinaro with a sumptuous chipped through pass, but the left back got it all wrong and the danger passed.

Siena were happy to sit behind the ball, but on rare voyages forward both Mato Jajalo and Massimo Maccarone fired over from long range.

Juventus created their best chance of the half on 41 minutes when Giorgio Chiellini headed wide from six yards from a Diego free kick.

But the visitors risked falling behind in first half injury time as Gianluigi Buffon did brilliantly to stop Albin Ekdal's lob after the Juve-owned youngster raced through on goal.


Juventus made one change at half time as Martin Caceres replaced Zdenek Grygera.

The away side almost broke the deadlock immediately, as Chiellini hit the post from close range, but there was an offside anyway.

There was a nasty incident as Nicola Legrottaglie and Caceres clashed heads, but both were able to continue after treatment.

Mauro Camoranesi was introduced to add some creative spice, but it was Siena who threatened just after the hour mark as Emanuele Calaio was denied by a fantastic last-gasp Chiellini sliding tackle.

Juventus were creating very little, but they took the lead on 73 minutes. Diego chipped in a free kick, and Amauri flicked on a header from 12 yards into the bottom corner.

Diego's last action of the match before being subbed for Sissoko was to shoot just wide from 25 yards.

With this win Juventus consolidate third place, while Siena remain deep in the relegation zone.

Anthony Sormani, Goal.com