Soccer-Last-gasp Cuadrado winner ends Juventus slump with Fiorentina win
TURIN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Juan Cuadrado´s stoppage-time strike earned Juventus a 1-0 win over 10-man Fiorentina in Serie A on Saturday as the Turin club ended a three-match winless league run.
The Colombian substitute beat goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano at his near post with a powerful effort in the dying minutes to clinch victory, despite a poor Juve performance in which they failed to muster a shot on target until the 86th minute.
Fiorentina defender Nikola Milenkovic´s dismissal in the 73rd minute injected some life into the home side as Federico Chiesa blasted a shot off the crossbar and Alvaro Morata had a goal ruled out for offside before Cuadrado broke through at the death.
"We are happy with the win, we will continue on this line," Cuadrado told DAZN.
"We are a team and a family, we have to fight for our team-mates until the end."
It was coach Massimiliano Allegri's 200th win as Juventus coach in all competitions, making him only the third manager to achieve the feat since 1929/30 after Giovanni Trapattoni (319 wins) and Marcello Lippi (227).
But the 54-year-old's side did little to suggest an imminent transformation in form after an underwhelming display.
The result leaves eighth-placed Juventus on 18 points, level with Fiorentina above them.
Back-to-back defeats against midtable Sassuolo and Hellas Verona left Juventus in crisis ahead of the visit of their rivals from Florence, although a midweek Champions League win over Zenit St Petersburg was a positive sign.
There was no obvious improvement on display from the hosts in the first half, though, as Fiorentina created the best chance of a dull start to the game when Riccardo Saponara blasted over from 12 yards.
Milenkovic´s expulsion proved to be the turning point, as the Serbian was shown a second yellow for a clumsy challenge on Chiesa and Juve pressed forward for the final quarter of the match.
Chiesa smashed a half-volley off the underside of the bar and Morata tucked in a cross only for it to be ruled out for offside, and the Old Lady finally registered their first shot on target when Chiesa´s shot was beaten away by Terracciano with four minutes of regulation time remaining.
Cuadrado, who was introduced with 11 minutes remaining, made the difference with a piece of superb individual skill, skipping past Cristiano Biraghi and drilling a low shot home.
Earlier on Saturday, Spezia climbed out of the relegation zone as Jacopo Sala´s goal earned a 1-0 win over midtable Torino. (Reporting by Alasdair Mackenzie Editing by Toby Davis)
