Juventus christened their new stadium in style with
a thumping win over Parma that takes them to the top
of the Serie A table.
Antonio Conte could hardly have wished for a better
start to life as coach of the Bianconeri as goals from
Stephan Lichtsteiner, Simone Pepe, Arturo Vidal and
Claudio Marchisio eased them through their opening league
game.
A red card for Paolo De Ceglie and Sebastian Giovinco's
consolation for Parma prevented it from being a perfect
start, but there were few complaints from the 40,000
fans inside the new Juventus Stadium.
A new-look Juventus had Andrea Pirlo pulling the strings
in the midfield and he provided two sumptuous assists
to mark his debut in style. The first came in the 17th
minute when he lifted the ball over the Parma defence
into the path of debutant Lichtsteiner, who touched
the ball past the goalkeeper with his right foot and
slotted it in with his left.
An almost identical pass in the 83rd minute from the
Italy international gave Marchisio the chance to crown
a superlative performance with a delicate lob on the
volley over Marco Storari.
But it was not only the new faces who shone for the
home side.
Alessandro Del Piero rolled back the years with an
assist for their second goal in the 58th minute as he
bisected the Parma defence with a pass for Pepe, who
drilled his shot across Mirante into the far corner.
Only minutes earlier, another Del Piero pass sent Alessandro
Matri free, but his shot hit the inside of the right-hand
upright and rolled agonisingly along the goal line without
crossing it.
It was not Matri's day, having seen a valid headed
goal ruled out for offside in the 39th minute.
But it was definitely Juve's day, and a good one for
their debutants as Vidal scored with his first touch
in the 73rd minute, volleying past Storari from 20 yards
after Mirko Vucinic's shot rebounded back to the Chilean
off a Parma defender.
The only disappointment for the home side was a red
card for De Ceglie in the last minute as he fouled Giovinco
inside the penalty area. The former Juve forward stepped
up to score a consolation for Parma.
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