MILAN (AP) — Juventus stretched its winning streak to eight matches when it scraped past Udinese 1-0 in Serie A on Saturday.
Danilo scored four minutes from time thanks to a fabulous assist from Federico Chiesa.
Massimiliano Allegri’s team has also not conceded a goal in its past eight matches despite being rocked by a bookkeeping scandal during the break when the club’s board of directors resigned en masse and the Turin prosecutor’s office requested indictments.
Juventus moved into second place in Serie A, a point above defending champion AC Milan, which hosts Roma on Sunday. Inter Milan could also move to within a point of Juve with a win at Silvio Berlusconi’s Monza later Saturday.
There was a moving tribute to Gianluca Vialli before kickoff as well as a minute’s silence, which preceded all matches in Serie A this weekend.
Vialli, who died on Friday, helped Juventus to a Serie A title and the European Cup during a four-year stint.
The Juventus players also wore black armbands, while there were many banners in the stands dedicated to Vialli as well as chants from the supporters.
But those chants turned to jeers at halftime after a less than impressive performance.
Udinese goalkeeper Marco Silvestri did, however, have to pull off remarkable stops, notably to keep out Daniele Rugani’s header.
Juventus eventually broke the deadlock with impressive play from Chiesa, who chested down a ball over the top before volleying across the face of goal for Danilo to tap in from point-blank range at the back post.
LATE WINNER
Nicolás González marked his comeback from a lengthy injury layoff by scoring a stoppage-time penalty to help Fiorentina beat Sassuolo 2-1.
The spot kick was awarded after Sassuolo defender Ruan Tressoldi blocked Aleksa Terzić’s shot with his arm.
Halftime substitute Riccardo Saponara gave Fiorentina the lead three minutes after the break but Domenico Berardi leveled from the spot nine minutes later.
___
More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports