Milan, Sep. 26 (AP): Paulo Dybala left the field in tears shortly after scoring to set Juventus on the way to a 3-2 victory over Sampdoria in Serie A on Sunday.
Dybala has endured a number of muscular injuries over the years and it appeared as if he had suffered another one after pulling up suddenly. The Juventus forward was able to walk off and was consoled by his teammates as he did so but it is unlikely will be able to feature in Wednesday’s Champions League match against Chelsea.
Leonardo Bonucci converted a penalty and Manuel Locatelli scored his first goal for Juventus. Maya Yoshida and Antonio Candreva kept the match alive for Sampdoria.
It was an unconvincing win for Juve and only its second of the season. It lifted the Bianconeri up to ninth, eight points behind Serie A leader AC Milan. Napoli can move two points above Milan if it maintains its perfect record with a win at home to Cagliari.
It’s also José Mourinho’s first capital derby later as his Roma side visits Lazio.
In Turin, Juventus was keen to build on its first win midweek and it started brightly.
Dybala gave it the lead with a delightful strike into the bottom right corner from outside the area in the 10th minute and the Bianconeri could have extended their lead before the 27-year-old was forced off after pulling up injured, clutching the back of his leg.
The tempo fell after that but Bonucci drilled a powerful penalty into the bottom left corner two minutes from the break to double Juve’s lead after a handball from Nicola Murru. It was a first penalty in Serie A for Bonucci, who has taken spotkicks for Italy.
But Sampdoria pulled one back a minute later. Mattia Perin did well to parry Fabio Quagliarella’s effort but the resulting corner was taken short and Candreva whipped in a cross for Yoshida to head into the far side of the net.
Juventus restored its two-goal advantage 12 minutes into the second half. Locatelli started and finished the move after great work by Federico Chiesa and Dejan Kulusevski.
Candreva scored for Samp seven minutes from time to set up a nervy finale for Juve.