Juventus Down Palermo In Conte Return

Antonio Conte returned from his ban to manage Juve on Sunday (AP/LaPresse)

Juventus got their manager Antonio Conte back for Sunday's match at Palermo after he had served a four month ban for looking the other way involving match fixing that took place before his managerial term at Juve.  They were able to welcome him back with a fairly convincing win, especially being that Sicily can be a tough place for opponents to come and play.  Of course, they did alright while he was gone as well, staying top of the table in the Serie A while advancing to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.

Palermo came out the better side in this one though and controlled the first 20 minutes of play while Juventus looked vulnerable.  In the 11th minute Jasmin Kurtic sent a screaming drive in on the Juventus goal that forced a quality save from Gigi Buffon, and in the 14th minute a defender just managed to step in the way of a shot from Josip Illicic that was seemingly destined for the back of the net.  On 17 minutes Frabizio Miccoli found the back of the net for Palermo, but the goal was correctly ruled out for offside.

That seemed to be a bit of a wake up call for Juve as they gradually started to find their feet and push into Palermo's defensive third.  In the 30th minute Claudio Marchisio had a nice look from the center of the area, but just floated his shot over the bar.  In the 36th Marchisio had a shot blocked from close range and the rebound fell kindly to Mirko Vucinic, who just couldn't quite find his mark as his return shot clanged off the near post and rolled away for the Palermo 'keeper to collect.

Juventus would continue to look dangerous throughout the rest of the half, and nearly took the lead once again in the 44th minute.  This time it was Alessandro Matri that tested the Palermo 'keeper, firing a shot at him from point blank range.  Samir Ujkani's instincts did not fail him though, and he was able to corral it, preserving the scoreless draw going into halftime.

Juve announced their intentions right away in half number 2 though.  In the 46th minute Vucinic again went close, but found himself drawing woodwork for the the second time in the match.  However he totally redeemed himself in the 50th minute, sliding one of the niftiest backheel passes that you're ever likely to see to Stephan Lichtsteiner, who promptly slotted home the match's lone goal from close range to make it 0-1 to Juventus.

Both sides would put up one more quality chance in the match.  For Juve, Andrea Pirlo nearly handed Vucinic another assist in the 62nd, volleying his cross toward goal, but again Ujkani was up to it.  Palermo had their best chance for an equalizer in the 82nd minute when they managed to get the ball to the feet of Miccoli on a quick counter attack.  However the Italian international couldn't find the target, knocking the shot just high and sealing Palermo's 0-1 defeat to the Old Lady at home.