Goals from Pogba, Chiellini, Lichsteiner, and Tevez gave Juventus a comprehensive victory in the Supercoppa Italiana.
The game got off to a slow start, with both sides, though not lacking in intensity, lacked any real quality in attacking areas until the introduction of Pogba after Marchisio limped from the field. Pogba broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute, after a clever low set piece from Andrea Pirlo, the ball deflected into the path of the French international, who turn and rifiled the ball into the bottom corner from 10 yards.
After a somewhat slow second half that saw Juventus leading 1-0 at the break, Conte's halftime words worked wonders for the bianconeri as they came out firing on all cylinders to defeat Lazio enroute to an Italian Super Cup Victory.
Over the span of 5 minutes, and within the first 11 minutes of the second half, the boys from Turin bagged 3 successive counterattacking goals in deadly fashion.
After assisting Giorgio Chiellini (yes, the towering centre back was playing dress up Prima Punta style), Stephan Lichtsteiner proceeded to grab the second goal of the second half just minutes later. It wasn't to stop there, however, as yet a third counter attack followed.
After a save by Marchetti denied Pogba his second goal of the game, the youngster showed the composure necessary to collect the rebound, and pick out an open Tevez who slotted home for his first goal in Black and White.
All of this served to make up for, everything considered, a less than spectacular first half for Juventus. After losing Marchisio early on to an injury, Pogba entered the game and immediately made an impact bagging a goal, but those are not ideal circumstances for Pogba to come on. Juventus are going to need all the depth they have in midfield this season, and as there is yet no word on Marchisio, any significant injury could seriously undermine the joy this result brings.
Lazio played a tough first half, with the best chance coming from a Radu effort from distance which forced Buffon into a spectacular leaping save. The second half saw Klose miss two chances, both of which the German would usually convert.
The uglier of the two, was a 1v1; while Buffon made a great save, Klose shouldn't have given him the chance to. It would be Lazio's best chance to grab a consolation goal.
The end of the game was marred by racist jeering from Laziali supporters towards Pogba, Asamoah, and Ogbonna, enough so that Vidal was fouled with 4 seconds remaining, Head Official Rocchi decided he had seen enough and whistled the game finished without extra time. Also worth mentioning however, is the sportsmanship shown by Lazio coach Petkovic as he congratulated each individual Juventus player following the match.
Overall it was a dominant performance from Juventus, which had top performances from the previoulsy mentioned Lichtsteiner, as well as Pogba. Tevez and Vucinic also linked up well. Lazio were simply overmatched following the 3 goal burst to start the second half, and despite a few late chances, have some work to do before the season opens. The Serie A regular season kicks off this Saturday, August 26th.