A revitalized Paulo Dybala made his presence felt for Juventus on Saturday, as his second-half brace made the difference in a 3-1 win over Hellas Verona.
The Argentine was forced to watch from the bench in each of the Old Lady’s previous three Serie A fixtures, but he repaid coach Massimiliano Allegri’s faith in him with a sparkling display to help his side remain one point back of league leaders Napoli.
After Martin Caceres cancelled out Blaise Matuidi’s opener it was Dybala’s brace after the restart – both scored with his right foot – that silenced Verona’s spirited, but ultimately futile resistance.
Juventus made it clear they were ready for business from the opening whistle, needing just six minutes to take the lead.
Gonzalo Higuain found some space and fired the ball off the upright, and the rebound fell to Matuidi who pushed it to the far bottom corner despite not getting a clean strike off.
Nicolas got low to the ground and pushed away another Higuain effort, while Caceres nearly scored against his former employers only to see Giorgio Chiellini block the effort.
Higuain couldn’t find a way past Nicolas yet again, forcing a desperate save out of the Verona goalkeeper from in close after a great pull-back pass from Alex Sandro.
Half-time substitute Federico Bernardeschi introduced himself to the game in the 58th minute by lashing a strike on goal from outside the penalty area that was pushed away by Nicolas.
It proved decisive as Verona levelled the match a minute later. Former Juventus man Caceres hit the sweet spot of the ball while falling from outside the penalty area, and it flew into the bottom corner despite Wojciech Szcsesny’s diving effort.
The goal galvanized the home side, pushing them forward in search of an unexpected 2-1 advantage.
However the dream was dashed in the 70th minute. After Giorgio Chiellini sent a header just wide of the mark, Dybala didn’t make the same mistake soon after.
Stephan Lichtsteiner’s cross was controlled by the Argentine, who’s right-footed strike from inside the penalty area found it’s way past an unprepared Nicolas.
The match was put away seven minutes later, with Dybala netting a sensational second. After dribbling through what seemed like the entire Verona backline, the forward deposited the ball past Nicolas with his right yet again to make it 3-1 for the Turin giants.
Dybala nearly made it three with a curled free-kick, only to see it punched away by Nicolas before referee Paolo Mazzoleni brought an end to proceedings.
Juventus will travel to take on Cagliari next Saturday, while Verona face league leaders Napoli in Naples.
