MILAN, Feb 27: Dušan Vlahović scored twice as injury-depleted Juventus won 3-2 at Empoli on Saturday to move to within seven points of Serie A leader AC Milan.
Vlahović netted his first goal on the stroke of halftime after Szymon Żurkowski had canceled out Moise Kean’s opener for Juventus.
The 22-year-old Vlahović doubled his tally and looked to have all but sealed the result in the 66th minute before a goal from Empoli substitute Andrea La Mantia led to a nervy finale.
Vlahović will return to Fiorentina in the Italian Cup semifinals for the first time since his acrimonious departure last month.
Coach Massimiliano Allegri was without a number of key players, with Weston McKennie and Alex Sandro added to the injury list.
All Serie A matches are starting five minutes late this weekend accompanied by a peace message following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Juventus broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute when Adrien Rabiot whipped in a cross from the left and Kean headed in at the back post.
But the Bianconeri were hit with a double blow shortly after as Denis Zakaria limped off with an apparent left thigh injury and moments later Empoli leveled when Żurkowski managed to prod the ball in after a goalmouth scramble following a corner.
However, Juventus leveled in first-half stoppage time as Juan Cuadrado threaded the ball through to Vlahović, who controlled before firing into the back of the net.
Vlahović added another in the second half as he finished off a counterattack by lifting the ball over Empoli goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Ten minutes later, La Mantia managed to squeeze the ball inbetween Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny and the post.
Other results
New coach Davide Nicola’s changes had an immediate impact as they helped last-place Salernitana to a 1-1 draw at home to Bologna.
Marko Arnautović headed Bologna into the lead shortly before halftime but Nicola made a triple substitution in the 71st minute and seconds later all three combined for Nadir Zortea to fire in the equalizer.
Also, Fiorentina failed to keep up the pressure on the top four as it lost 2-1 at Sassuolo after an intense finale.
Hamed Traorè scored the opener and also headed onto the crossbar in the first half.
Arthur Cabral slid in to net the equalizer with two minutes remaining and seemed to have snatched a point for Fiorentina before Grégoire Defrel’s stoppage-time winner. (AP)
