After facing serious criticism for their lack of wins, Juventus bounced back with a superb 4-0 Coppa Italia victory over Cagliari, which demonstrated the true quality of Thiago Motta’s side.

On Saturday, the Bianconeri suffered their tenth draw in 16 rounds of Serie A, with bottom side Venezia last taking a point from the Turin giants. At the end of that encounter – analyzed in this previous column – there was an angry argument between Dusan Vlahovic and Juventus fans.

But as kick-off against Cagliari approached, the club’s Ultra groups came together to unveil a banner in support of the Serbian striker, which read: “An isolated incident does not erase the past. We have always respected you.” Juventus DV9 and Ultras have united until the end!”

Juventus injuries lead to reshuffle

With Juve – already without Gleison Bremer and Juan Cabal – unable to afford any more defensive injuries, Motta shuffled his formation to rest players, pushing Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie into a makeshift defensive line.

It looked to be another difficult evening for the home side as Cagliari – who earned a 1-1 draw against Juventus on October 6 – got ahead of the Bianconeri in the first minute, with goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio somehow catching a slipping Gianluca Lapadula fended off.

But from then on it was all Juve. A clever ball from Teun Koopmeiners put Vlahovic behind the Cagliari defense, but he shot over the crossbar before Kenan Yildiz parried a volley from Mateusz Wieteska.

Francisco Conceicao saw a shot go just wide of the goal and soon after made an excellent save from Simone Scuffet with another shot. The deadlock was finally broken just before half-time when a clever pass from Yildiz found Vlahovic, who controlled it on the turn and slotted it between the goalkeeper’s legs.

Whatever Motta said at the break clearly worked as the Bianconeri started the second 45 minutes in impressive fashion, pushing forward in search of more goals. A free kick from 30 yards out was sent into the top corner by Koopmeiners, sparking perhaps Juve’s best performance of the game.

Vlahovic hit a wonderful chip over Scuffet but the shot was ruled out for offside, then Cagliari goalkeeper Francisco Conceicao parried before an unmarked Nico Gonzalez header was deflected wide by Lapadula.

Another Vlahovic goal was denied by an offside decision and the former Fiorentina striker was only able to reach the side netting after making a superb run around a helpless Scuffet.

The Old Lady finally got their third goal when Francisco Conceicao directed a left-footed shot into the bottom corner before Gonzalez completed the defeat with what was undoubtedly the best goal of the game.

Thiago Motta is happy about Juventus’ victory

“It was a good performance, the fans were right behind us as always,” Thiago Motta told Canale 5 shortly after the final whistle. “As I said the other night, sometimes they have the freedom to express their feelings respectfully, but we need them .

“These guys handle a difficult situation the right way and give their best in every training session. Sometimes we can achieve positive results, sometimes not. This is not because we are Juventus, but because, as we saw today, we have players of great quality and we should aim high.”

That view was shared by a number of players, with Michele Di Gregorio giving a rare interview in which he looked forward to Juve’s next game and a trip to the Stadio Brianteo to face his former club Monza.

“It was a night we needed, we managed to score four goals and not concede a single one,” the goalkeeper told reporters. “We are happy, a win leads to more wins and we were hoping for this win. We know we have to go to Monza and continue on this path.

“It’s a special game for me, we will work in the next few days to prepare ourselves as best we can for the game on Sunday.”

Juventus ultimately wins and hopes to end the year with victories over Monza and then Fiorentina.