Amauri scores double against Shamrock Rovers

While Juve’s main concern this season isn’t the Europa league, the European competition is helping Delneri build his team. So now that Juventus has played and won their first competitive match against Shamrock Rovers in Europa League qualification, Delneri will have a lot of positivies to look at. But Juventus hasn’t qualified yet, they’ll need to play the return leg at Modena, and all they need to do is not lose by more than one goal.

Juventus started well right away, in the third minute Amauri combines with Diego to complete a give and go which penetrates the frozen Irish defence leaving Amauri to finish with his left for the first goal. A perfect example of how Delneri wants Diego to work as a “trequartista”, or number 10. Every opportunity Juventus created was filtered through Diego, just like Delneri did with Cassano at Sampdoria and Doni at Atlanta. Amauri was a dangerous presence up front and the wingers, Martinez and Lanzafame, constantly changed sides every five minutes, disorienting the Irish fullbacks, and maybe themselves a little too considering their average performance.

In the second half Amauri scored again, an offensive push which passed through Diego and finished with Amauri. The Italian/Brazilian headed the ball downwards across the goal, to hit the far post and bounce into the back of the net for the final goal. While Juve came close again, and Diego could’ve earned a penalty, the scoring stopped with Amauri’s second in the 74th minute. The Shamrock Rovers were dangerous from set pieces, using their physicality and strength to get close to a goal in their home stadium, but Juve held out well to win 2-0 away from home, hopefully ensuring their qualification to the Europa League.