Staff Reporter.
Adrien Rabiot’s second-half goal earned Juventus a 1-0 home win against Roma on Saturday as they moved within two points of Serie A leaders Inter Milan.
Rabiot latched onto a flick from Dusan Vlahovic inside the box and calmly slotted home.
Juve finish the year in second place with 43 points from 18 games behind Inter, who drew 1-1 at Genoa on Friday.
Third-placed AC Milan beat Sassuolo 1-0 earlier in the day.
Federico Chiesa thought he had extended Juve’s lead just before the final whistle, receiving a deflected ball inside the box and turning it in, but was flagged offside.
“It was a good game, because playing against Roma is never easy, especially when Mourinho is on the opposition bench,” Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri told DAZN.
“At this moment, I think we are in good shape physically, the last three days of training were good too and we had some impressive passing moves today.
“We gave the ball away a bit too often and need to work on that, but above all on the diagonal passes and how to play out from the back.”
Roma are five points behind Florentina in fourth and in a fight to qualify for the Champions League.
“We talked about this before the game and we created really more than anyone expected against a defensive wall in Turin,” Mourinho told DAZN.
“I am very happy with the way we approached the game strategically, very happy with the character shown by my team, but it’s about points and we didn’t get the result.”