Dusan Vlahovic needed the game against Bologna like air to breathe.
The Serbian striker of Juventus was very stressed, after not scoring in five consecutive games for the team, being aware of the unflattering reviews he received throughout the month of September.
But on Sunday against Bologna he came back to himself.
In the 24th minute he scored for his teammate in the Serbian national team, Filip Kostic, and in the second half he scored himself.
And this should be of great concern to Maccabi Haifa, mainly because of the "ketchup bottle syndrome".
Every striker knows that after the scoring form, he only needs one goal, one shake of the bottle, so that the next goals will come in bunches.
Tomorrow evening (10:00 p.m.), an hour and a half after the end of the Yom Kippur fast, the greens will take to the grass at the "Juventus Stadium" when both teams are still without points in the Champions League.
If from the point of view of the Israeli champion it was quite expected, then from the point of view of Juventus it is a huge failure.
This is the first time in history that Juve started a campaign in the Champions League with two losses.
And in order to have a chance to qualify for the round of 16, they must beat Maccabi Haifa twice, tomorrow in Turin and next week in Sami Ofer.
And the one who is supposed to be primarily responsible for this is Vlakhovitch.
The one who was purchased less than a year ago from Fiorentina for 80 million euros (he signed on January 28, his 22nd birthday), is undoubtedly one of the best strikers in the world.
In Serbia they even claim that he is no less good than Kylian Mbappe and Marling Holland.
And his numbers are indeed impressive.
He joined Fiorentina aged 18 from Partizan Belgrade and in his last 18 months before moving to Juventus, he scored 41 goals.
Juve basically bought him as a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo, who left in the summer of 2021 for Manchester United.
Without the Portuguese's goals, Juve had no chance of competing for the championship, and the management feared failure in the Champions League as well.
Started working straight away
Vlahovitch didn't need any adjustment time.
He scored in his debut game in the "Old Lady" uniform against Verona, and in his first career game in the Champions League he scored 33 seconds into the game in the round of 16 against Villarreal.
The Serbian thus became the player who scored the fastest in his debut in the Champions League.
And it is hard to believe that this record will be broken in the coming years.
So it's true, Juve was eliminated by Villarreal and also finished the league only in fourth place. But the team was happy with the addition of the young striker, who is actually supposed to organize the attack in the next four years. Vlahovitch finished last season as the second top scorer in Serie A, with 24 Goals (17 at Fiorentina and another 7 at Juventus) Only Ciro Immobila of Lazio was ahead of him, with 27 goals.
In Florence, they believed that after two disappointing seasons this season they would be able to fight for the championship, and the truth is that the opening in August was reasonable.
Victories over Sassuolo and Spezia and two draws against Sampdoria and Roma put Juve at the top.
But then came the month of Black September, which included 3 losses and a draw in 4 games, talks about the dismissal of coach Max Allegri, and protests from the fans.
Fortunately for Juventus, the international break arrived just in time, helping to calm things down.
Vlahovic went to the matches of the Serbian national team, scored in a 0:2 victory over Erling Holland's Norway, and helped them qualify for Tier A of the Nations League.
And the one who helped is Arkadyush Milik.
The Polish striker was loaned at the beginning of the season from Marseille when the thought was that he would be a back-up for the Serbian.
All in all, these are quite similar pioneers.
Tall (Serbian 1.90, Polish 1.86), physically strong, and with a tremendous kick.
Vlahovitch is more technical than Milik, so he also cooks more than him.
But the Pole has much more experience in the Champions League, a factory where he previously scored for Ajax and Napoli.
Arkadyush Milik.
Completes a deadly attack, photo: Reuters
In the first games of the season Milik came off the bench.
He scored his first goal in a 0:2 against Spezia in overtime, after replacing Vlahovitz in the 85th minute.
In the match against Fiorentina, 3 days before the match against PSG, Allegri decided to give Volachovic a rest.
Milik started for the first time, and scored after 9 minutes.
Allegri saw that the Pole was in excellent shape and decided to bet on him in the starting line-up alongside Vlahovic.
Juve did lose 2:1 in Paris, but the two started the attack together against Benfica, and Milik was the one who scored the opening goal.
The third time the Serb and the Pole started together was this week against Bologna, and it looked great, after both scored.
As of this moment, the duo has 9 goals this season and what is no less important, they are starting to understand each other on the field.
No one in Italy has any doubt that Volachovich and Milik will start in the lineup against Maccabi Haifa as well.
And now it remains to be seen how Barak Becher will face these two terrifying strikers.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
