Why Dusan Vlahovic Argued With Juventus Fans After Yet Another ...

Dusan Vlahovic reacts angrily after scoring a late penalty (Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)

Juventus’s game with Venezia on Saturday was certainly eventful, the Bianconeri slumping to yet another draw with boss Thiago Motta suspended and Dusan Vlahovic arguing with his own club’s supporters.

Fresh off the back of an attention-grabbing win over Manchester City in midweek – a clash analysed in depth here – Juve were heavy favourites against a Venezia side that sat rock bottom of Serie A.

Indeed, the visitors had managed just two draws and six losses in their eight away games coming into this clash, already looking likely to return to Serie B at the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

Juventus meanwhile were still undefeated, albeit with an unenviable record of nine draws in their opening 15 games of the season and with a lengthy list of absentees. Nico Gonzalez was back on the bench after an injury, but the Turin giants were still without Gleison Bremer, Juan Cabal, Andrea Cambiaso, and Arek Milik.

They were also missing Thiago Motta, the Coach forced to sit out following a touchline ban for dissent, meaning his long-time assistant Alexandre Hugeaux was in charge on the bench.

Yet despite all those issues, Juve took the lead in the 19th minute, Khephren Thuram flicking on a Teun Koopmeiners corner which allowed the impressive Federico Gatti to finish at the far post.

Venezia would have chances to equalise before half time as Magnus Andersen hit the crossbar with a shot from outside the box, then Gianluca Busio saw his attempt blocked by a sliding Thuram.

After the break, Juve thought they’d added a second only for VAR to rule it out for handball by Kenan Yildiz then a vicious effort from Thuram clipped the bar on its way over. The Bianconeri would rue those wasted chances as Venezia drew level when Mikael Ellertsson rose to meet a cross from Francesco Zampano.

With less than 10 minutes remaining, a free kick from Hans Nicolussi Caviglia – on loan at Venezia from Juventus – found Jay Idzes and his header dropped into the bottom corner of the net.

Douglas Luiz almost equalised with an acrobatic effort, but with just seconds remaining, Venezia goalkeeper Filip Stankovic dived to make a save from Conceicao, but only managed to tip it onto the arm of team-mate Antonio Candela.

Dusan Vlahovic made no mistake with the penalty, and Juve rescued a point when it looked certain that they were going to lose a league game for the first time. It wasn’t enough to prevent them matching a 26-year old record for fewest victories after 16 rounds (6 back in 1998/99).

“We didn’t put in a good performance against a team that defended well and we certainly need to do better,” Thiago Motta told Sky Italia shortly after the final whistle. “I’d already said before the match that every game is different, so this was nothing to do with the Champions League and we cannot be satisfied with this performance.

“This is a step up we need to make. We’d taken the lead and we should’ve kept pushing forward to create more chances and kill off the game. We didn’t do that, we allowed the other team to get back into it.”

Fans certainly made their feelings known at the end of the game too, booing the team and insulting players as they saluted the Curva Sud as they do after every match. Vlahovic took issue with that response, resulting in some angry exchanges between supporters and the Serbia striker.

“The fans have the freedom to express their emotions and feelings,” Motta said when asked about the incident. “The players are the first to wish they could’ve changed things and won the game, so it is not a good moment.

“We must be united and keep going forward for the good of Juventus. We all want to change this situation. The fans have every right to express themselves, but we should remain united and together change things.”

They will get their next opportunity when Juventus play in front of those same supporters on Tuesday when they take on Cagliari in the Coppa Italia.