Sports
Juventus 2-1 Roma: Openda opens Serie A account to extend winning run
Lois Openda scored his first Serie A goal as Juventus defeated Roma 2-1 at Allianz Stadium to move within one point of the top four in Serie A.
Francisco Conceicao opened the scoring shortly before the break, while Tommaso Baldanzi’s second-half strike failed to trigger a comeback as Juventus recorded their third straight win in all competitions.
There were few chances to speak of in the first half, though Mile Svilar did deny Conceicao from point-blank range before Openda’s rebound was blocked by Devyne Rensch.
However, Conceicao broke the deadlock with a clinical 44th-minute finish.
Svilar was forced into action again early in the second half to keep out a powerful volley from Andrea Cambiaso, while Kenan Yildiz fired narrowly wide after good combination play with Openda.
Juventus eventually doubled their lead in the 70th minute as Weston McKennie squared the ball to Openda for a tap-in after Svilar initially saved the former’s header, but Roma quickly halved the deficit when Baldanzi was the fastest to react to a rebound from Evan Ferguson’s shot.
Yildiz was involved again shortly after, this time hitting the woodwork with a curling effort that evaded the reach of the Roma goalkeeper, but Juventus managed to see the win through.
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— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) December 20, 2025
Data Debrief: Yildiz at the heart of things again
Although Roma registered one more shot than Juventus, 14 to 13, it was Luciano Spalletti’s side who created the better chances. Their attempts were worth 2.33 expected goals (xG) while Roma produced 1.53.
Juventus have now won six of their last seven matches in all competitions (L1) after having won only five of their first 16 this season.
And Yildiz has been a key part of this turnaround. He created a joint-team high two chances, recorded the most passes in the final third for his side (22), won seven of his 15 duels, won possession seven times and recorded two interceptions.
