Juan Cabal made an instant impact from the bench as Juventus edged Bologna 1-0 at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on Sunday, a result that lifted the Bianconeri above their hosts into fifth place in Serie A.
Both sides started brightly, but it was Bologna who threatened first. Michele Di Gregorio was called into action inside five minutes, producing a superb double save to deny Tommaso Pobega before quickly recovering to block Riccardo Orsolini from a tight angle.
Juventus thought they had taken the lead nine minutes before the break, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside.
Federico Ravaglia raced out of his area and misjudged a bouncing ball under pressure from Weston McKennie, who squared for Jonathan David to tap into an empty net, but the forward had strayed beyond the last defender.
Bologna went even closer just before half-time when Nadir Zortea unleashed a powerful strike from the right side of the box that crashed against the crossbar.
The decisive moment arrived shortly after the hour mark. Introduced moments earlier, Cabal needed just three minutes to announce himself, powering home a header from Kenan Yildiz’s inviting cross to give Juventus the lead in the 64th minute.
Any hopes of a Bologna response were dealt a heavy blow soon after, as Torbjørn Heggem was shown a straight red card for hauling down Lois Openda in a last-man situation.
Despite their numerical advantage, Juventus struggled to create clear openings to extend their lead. Openda came closest, forcing Ravaglia into a fine save with a first-time curling effort before later firing over when clean through in the closing stages.
The win was significant for Juve, who had lost three of their previous five away league matches, as they left Emilia-Romagna with all three points and a valuable clean sheet. It was not a dominant display, however, with Bologna registering more shots on target, even though Juventus finished with a higher expected goals figure.
The result also underlined Juventus’ long-standing dominance in this fixture, as Bologna remain without a home league win against the Turin giants since November 1998, extending that barren run to 23 matches.
