A brace from Moise Kean laid the foundations for Juventus to secure a 3-0 victory against Lazio at the Allianz Stadium on Serie A Matchday 15.
The 22-year-old found the back of the net in each half before Arkadiusz Milik sealed the win in the dying minutes of the game.
La Vecchia Signora finish 2022 in third place with 31 points while the Aquile are now one point behind. More remarkably, Juve end the year with just seven goals conceded so far in the 2022/23 Serie A season.
Kean makes the difference for Juventus
It was a fairly uneventful first half until the arrival of the first goal as both sides struggled to create clear scoring opportunities. Juventus posed some danger on the counter-attack whereas Lazio struggled to make their possession count for something.
The Bianconeri opened the scoring in the 43rd minute when Adrien Rabiot dispossessed Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and the Frenchman played a long pass to Kean. The Italian striker then ran onto the ball and scooped it over an advancing Ivan Provedel.
Early in the second half, Juventus were close to a second goal when Milik forced a block out of Provedel and the Lazio goalkeeper then saved the rebound from Manuel Locatelli.
Kean scored his and Juve’s second of the match when Filip Kostic forced a save out of Provedel, who parried the ball into the path of the Bianconeri striker and he comfortably thumped it into the net.
Lazio had a rare chance when Luis Alberto tested Wojciech Szczesny, but the Bianconeri goalkeeper reacted quickly to the shot, while Kean was denied a hat-trick by Provedel before being replaced by Angel Di Maria.
Juventus had their opportunities to score a third, and they finally got it a minute before time when a low cross from Federico Chiesa was comfortably struck into the net by Milik.
Romero a bright spark for Lazio
In a match in which Lazio’s most experienced players struggled, Argentinian youngster Luka Romero provided some flair on the right wing for the Biancocelesti.
The 17-year-old earned a place in the starting line-up after scoring the winner against Monza in the previous round of Serie A action. Although he was not always effective, Romero displayed the ability and confidence to take on multiple opponents, even in tight areas.
It will be intriguing to see if Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri utilises him further in the new year and if he can teach the youngster to get into more dangerous positions.
