Juventus 1-0 Fiorentina: Gatti's first-half strike earns Old Lady narrow win
Juventus returned to winning ways after four league games without a win, defeating Fiorentina 1-0 on Sunday thanks to a first-half goal from Federico Gatti to maintain their third-place position in Serie A.
Juve now have 62 points, closing the gap on second-placed AC Milan to six and increasing their lead over fourth-placed Bologna to four points. Inter Milan lead with 79 points and will visit Udinese on Monday. Fiorentina are 10th with 43 points.
The hosts had three goals ruled out for offside in the first half, but Gatti gave them the lead in the 21st minute, which proved to be the winning goal.
Juventus were pushed harder after the break, but they held on for their second league victory in ten games, having won the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final against Lazio 2-0 in midweek.
"A very important victory after two very difficult months, we have a lot to play for and we have to be ready," Gatti told DAZN.
Fiorentina dominated possession early on, while the hosts appeared more dangerous, scoring twice in the first 12 minutes, both of which were ruled out for offside.
Dusan Vlahovic, who was looking for his first goal against his former club, was enraged by the second goal, which came after his header touched his teammate Bremer in an offside position.
It appeared only a matter of time before Juve broke the deadlock, and when Bremer's looping header from a corner rebounded off the far post, Gatti was there to tap home from close range.
Before the break, Cristiano Biraghi fired Fiorentina's first shot, but it went wide of the post.
"Too much respect for Juventus and too timid in the first half," Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Italiano told DAZN.
Fiorentina improved after the break, but were denied an equaliser when Nicolas Gonzalez curled a left-foot shot from outside the area that keeper Wojciech Szczesny tipped onto the crossbar with the ball heading for the top corner.
In the final minutes, the visitors had another chance, but when substitute Lucas Beltran struck from close range, his teammate M'Bala Nzola blocked the shot, and Juventus held on as Fiorentina's poor away record in Turin continued.
The Viola have now lost 12 of their last 13 matches at Juventus.
"In the end we risked conceding an equaliser, we made a few mistakes but I can't blame the lads for anything," Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri said to DAZN.
"We're having a good season, we're doing everything we can to try to improve. These three points are important."
Juventus won in Florence earlier this season, and the teams may meet again after Fiorentina defeated Atalanta 1-0 in the first leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final on Wednesday.
SportsLigue