Vlahovic scores another stunner in Bianconeri victory

Dusan Vlahovic scored another sublime free-kick and Arkadiusz Milik opened his Juventus account in a 2-0 Serie A victory over Spezia.

The in-form Vlahovic produced a carbon copy of his stunning strike in the draw against Roma last weekend to put Juve in front at the Allianz Stadium on Wednesday.

New signing Milik came off the bench to seal all three points in stoppage time with a clinical finish.

The Turin giants are unbeaten in four Serie A matches this season, but they suffered another injury blow when Wojciech Szczesny was carried off after landing awkwardly on his ankle in the first half. 

Vlahovic produced another moment of pure class to open the scoring in the ninth minute, bending a sumptous free-kick into the top-right corner of the net from 25 yards out after Juan Cuadrado had been bundled over.

Spezia were struggling to live with the Bianconeri’s high tempo, but there was more misfortune for Massimiliano Allegri’s side when Szczesny damaged his ankle flapping at a corner and had to be replaced by Mattia Perin.

Cuadrado felt he should have had a penalty in first-half stoppage time, but referee Andrea Colombo adjudged that Petko Hristov made no contact with the Juve captain.

Fabio Miretti turned sharply on the edge of the box and had a shot deflected wide before the fit-again Angel Di Maria and Filip Kostic replaced Cuadrado and Moise Kean early in the second half.

The dangerous Vlahovic came close to a second goal with a downward header that almost crossed the line before Bartlomiej Dragowski palmed the ball to safety.

Danilo should have given Juve breathing space when he fired over the crossbar after bursting into the area, but Milik swivelled in the box after being picked out by a Miretti cross and finished superbly to put the icing on the cake.