PAULO DYBALA SCORED his first Serie A hat-trick as Juventus came from two goals down to defeat Genoa 4-2 in an action-packed clash at Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Juve found themselves 2-0 behind after just seven minutes, but Dybala’s double pulled them level and the Argentine put the gloss on things with an excellent third that took his Serie A tally to 50 following Juan Cuadrado’s effort.
An own goal from Miralem Pjanic just 18 seconds into his 50th appearance for the club got Juve off to a terrible start and matters were made worse when Andrej Galabinov scored a penalty after referee Luca Banti used VAR to look at Daniele Rugani’s challenge on the Bulgarian.
It was the second time in as many matches Massimiliano Allegri’s side found themselves on the wrong side of a spot-kick decision based on video technology, but the system worked in their favour after Dybala had got them going with an instinctive finish.
Banti deemed Darko Lazovic to have handled a shot from Mario Mandzukic after watching a replay and Dybala restored parity from 12 yards deep in first-half stoppage time.
Cuadrado beat Mattia Perin to put the visitors ahead for the first time and Dybala fired a sweet near-post strike beyond the goalkeeper to ensure Juve escaped with a second win from as many Serie A matches.
An electric start saw Genoa take a surprise lead in the opening minute, Goran Pandev’s cross from the right ending up in the back of the net after Giorgio Chiellini deflected it onto Pjanic.
Perin produced a sensational save to stop Santiago Gentiletti heading into the back of his own net and Genoa had a chance to move two up when referee Banti used VAR to award them a penalty for Rugani’s tackle from behind on Galabinov.
Stephan Lichtsteiner was booked for his protests, with the Genoa forward having appeared to be offside from Adel Taarabt’s touch, but Galabinov was unforgiving and fired his spot-kick down the middle.
Juve, without injured midfielder Claudio Marchisio, did not dwell on the setback and halved the deficit when Dybala met Pjanic’s cutback with a cool, first-time finish beyond Perin in the 14th minute.
As Genoa looked to threaten on the break they came under pressure and Perin produced a remarkable double save to keep out Dybala and Mandzukic in quick succession.
Juve were not to be denied an equaliser before the break, though. Banti used the VAR system again to penalise Lazovic for blocking a shot from Mandzukic with his arm and Dybala drilled the resultant spot-kick into the top-right corner.
Allegri’s side struggled to create and, after Blaise Matuidi replaced Sami Khedira to offer some additional dynamism in midfield, Juve breached the Genoa defence again in the 62nd minute when Cuadrado beat Diego Laxalt and picked out the top-left corner.
Rodrigo Bentancur made his Juve debut as a replacement for Pjanic before Gianluigi Buffon – named UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year in midweek – kept out Raffaele Palladino as Genoa pushed for an equaliser.
Dybala made the scoreline more flattering by arrowing a low shot in at the near post in the 92nd minute, his landmark goal coming in fine fashion.
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Very solid performance from Ulster, but some really poor play from Leinster, Ferris after the game hit the nail on the head, you’d expect Harry Byrne coming on to have potentially made a positive impact, he had the opposite effect, I really am yet to see anything from him that warrants him being involved in Ireland squads. Hume, Rea, Doak and Timoney all looked very strong in the close of that game, Ulster have the backbone of a strong squad, but need a run of consistency.
@Patrick Breen: yeah H. Byrne has been very sloppy in the last few outings for Ireland and Leinster. Obviously they see the potential in him but he certainly hasn’t shown it yet. Great to see Will Connors back and having such an impact off the bench.
@Patrick Breen: the better team won. The pairing of mcgrath and ross byrne is like rugby suicide. When nick mccarthy is the only leinster halfback that gets better than 4 out of 10 rating theres is something wrong. Adam byrne and larmour on the wings and these 2 box kick and gice away thr ball every time they get it. As for tracy how on earth is he still allowed to take lineouts.
@Derek Cassidy: leinster need to stop messing about and put frawley as sextons no 2. The 2 byrnes brothers than play front row are better outhalves than the other 2.
@Chris Mc: I definitely agree with you, having Frawley as the back up makes way more sense, I’ve been impressed by him when he’s played 10 for ye, however, I actually think that the 2 Byrne out halves might be better in the front row than Ed, I’m amazed he was capped, Bryan on the hand seems to be going well at Bristol.
@Patrick Breen: yeah we let him go and kept tracy and cronin.
@Derek Cassidy: Harry maybe hasn’t shown his potential but he looks like he has it. We just need to be patient.
@Patrick Breen: agree with you that HB has been poor the last 2 games when he came on but he is pure quality. You can’t have seen him play much if you haven’t seen why he is so highly regarded. Hopefully he gets a few starts and shows his potential the next few weeks
@Cathal: I’ve seen almost every game he’s played, and I’ve seen more reasons to be worried than excited, Healy at Munster has looked far more like a viable option. I think Ross Byrne and Carbery both had far less shaky starts to their rugby careers, the last time I was impressed by him was when he was playing u20s. I hope I’m proved wrong because he seems to be the man in favour with the Ireland camp, but I personally don’t rate him, which I know counts for absolutely nothing.
@Chris Mc: Frawley is the next Leinster big playmaker, I don’t see this Harry Byrne fascination ahead of him. Yes Harry Byrne showed brilliance early on but that was against amateur opposition. Not writing him off but….. FRAWLEY!
@Patrick Breen: If the coach at Ulster, Connacht or Munster was told by Andy Farrell ‘you have to replace your starter (or back-up) OH with Harry Byrne’, would they? I don’t think so. Even apart from the unfortunate timing of his injury he has shown very little against serious opposition. I seriously doubt Leo Cullen will start him in Champions Cup fixtures ahead of Ross Byrne either.
@Patrick Breen: I agree with you.
What’s the story with Harry Byrne, he looks completely out of sorts lately.
@Gally Had: 3rd choice at leinster. Hardly ever plays and yet the head scratcher is how is he in irish sqaud?????? Probably needs to move on to get more game time.
@Gally Had: I think he’s heading for those dodgy years where it could go one way or another – don’t think we’ll see a good Harry Byrne for a long time. Pity they can’t develop Frawley as an out and out Outhalf- he looks real deal
A good referee should be anonymous, Frank Murphy thinks it’s all about him. Absolutely horrendous referee every week. Not a fan of Ulster or Leinster btw. Just think he is there to ruin a game.
@Blindside: I agree, there towards the end he made some snarky comment to Ross Molony I think, about staying at home if you want to watch the big screen, who the hell does he think he is. How does he expect to command respect if that’s how he talks to players, like a petulant child. The irony being that he so often makes incorrect decisions that he has no right to be so arrogant. I really wish of all the trialled rules they had held on to the captains challenge, I know it slowed the game, but it gave some crutch to object to bad calls.
@Blindside: not taking away from the Ulster win, the better team won but yes, Frank Murphy is muck.
Jesus Dan levy just can’t catch a break
I wasn’t expecting this but Ulster played their hearts out, and more importantly were accurate in their passing, tackling, rucking and set piece. Absolutely delighted.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: better than the Toy Show lol Congrats Ulster, Hume was outstanding all fire skill and raw aggression
@Sustainable Hedgehog: well deserved.
@rugbyanbeer: Thanks both, my pessimism is paying off. Leinster are still the strongest province and this result will do them no harm.
@rugbyanbeer: We’ve got our tails up now, we’re coming for the Toy Show next.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: lol please take Tubridy, please please
Well I didn’t expect that..smug me put back in my box. Congrats Ulster. Am I going to complain about freezing my nuts off,not a chance after seeing the weather last night in Garway heroic supporters
There was nothing “tense” about it. Ulster were deserved winners and didn’t look under threat . And I was there to support Leinster. Credit where credit’s due
Fair play Ulster a well deserved victory.
Leinster on the controllables like lineout and lines and penalties were poor. Ulsters rush defence too far too long to break down or read. Harry tried to do it all without doing the basics but Nick and Will and some others were good. Roll on Connacht next
@Scott Crossfield: the leinster controlables are not letting tracy throw the lineouts and never start mcgrath and ross byrne together again.
I am not sure how you control frank.
@Chris Mc:
But McGrath was brought into the Irish setup two weeks ago… Marmion, Cooney, Blade& Doak must be lesser players… Carty must be behind Harry as well..
@Cowboy Ted: i wouldnt let mcgrath play for bective rangers. Hes a poor version of conor murrary, kicks every chance he gets, when he does pass its almost always at least head hight of the reciever and sometimes higher. He tackles well and is vert brave. Maybe he should play hooker cant be as bad as tracy at throwing in.
Great performance from Ulster. They deserved that completely. Leinster incredibly poor.
But again…how is Frank Murphy a referee? It actually beggars belief. He just makes it up as it he goes along.
@Tom McGirr: when he didnt even look at the frawley kick through to see if there was obstruction you know well frank doesnt care about doing his job. The IRFU need to remove this man.
Hume, Timoney and Connors the standouts.
@Phil O’ Meara:
Thought Henshaw good game, Cooney was very active vas well
@Phil O’ Meara: penny was good too.
@Chris Mc: Leinster back row weren’t even on the pitch until Connors came on. How many times were Leinster turned over going into contact with barely a back rower around to secure possession? Performed way below expectations. Nobody doing the dirty work
@Chris Mc: I love Penny, it must be hard for him with so many super open sides at Leinster. He’s welcome up north any time.
@Sustainable Hedgehog: he does get a lot of rugby but jvdf leavy Connors all playing 7 yeah hes got a few ahead of him. Hes too young to jump for game time but id say if he doesnt make the big squads hes gone.
We would swap him for doak.
@Chris Mc: No, you’re alright. We’ll keep Doak. He looks a cracker doesn’t he?
@Sustainable Hedgehog: super player. Him and ben healy looks like the future. With a bit of luck munster let healy play the right way and doesnt take the spark out of him. Again we will gladly swap ross byrne for ben.
Fair play to ulster , they gave an 80 minute performance tonight . Leinster we’re just off a bit . Not protecting the ball and too many handling errors.
Ulster defence was awesome and they kept bouncing back up onto their feet and back in line.
Great result and great for confidence moving forward, but they now have to back up that commitment and level of performance.
For me the result was achieved by two things
Breakdown domination
and
Aggressive defence tackling
But before Ulster supporters get carried away we have to remember who was missing from their squad this evening
@Mark Smith: Agree but Ulster weren’t at full strength either. They were missing 8-10 potential starting players.
@Mark Smith: Ulster fans won’t be getting carried away but we were missing first teamers too. McGrath, O’Toole, Henderson, Reidy, Murphy, Stockdale, Balaucoune and Addison would likely have started if fit. But we respect Leinster and I’m just delighted with the result. They don’t come often.
@Mark Smith: Ulster fans won’t be getting carried away but we were missing first team players too. McGrath, O’Toole, Henderson, Reidy, Murphy, Stockdale, Balaucoune and Addison would likely have started if fit. But we respect Leinster and I’m just delighted with the result. They don’t come often.
@Peter McClenaghan:
Probably only 2 or 3 would be starters
@Sustainable Hedgehog:
Yeah there are a few starters there certainty in IH,RB and WA and the others pushing for it.
Stockdale when back needs to step up to the plate more
Like you I am more than delighted with the victory but they need to maintain that level of performance
@Mark Smith: which 4 of Henderson, Murphy, Reidy, Stockdale, Baloucoune and Addison would you leave out? They’d all haven been in my starting XV tonight.
Then there’s O’Toole, McGrath, Marshall and Madigan who would all fancy their chances of starting when fit.
@Mark Smith: “But before Ulster supporters get carried away we have to remember who was missing from their squad this evening” Do you mean Addison
Baloucoune
Henderson
Izuchukwu
Madigan
McGrath
Murphy
O’Toole
Roberts
Stockdale.
Vermeulen
Not the Ireland players missing from Leinster but still very significant players…
Well deserved Ulster win. We were way too sloppy…Giving away 15 penalties.
Can’t argue with the result…We gotta just suck it up and learn from it.
Congrats Ulster…great win on the road for you.
@The Exhibition Guy – Stephan Murtagh: Learning mostly for the management as in don’t leave so many of your first choice players at home.
Even for Leinster going with so few first choice players against another Irish province doesn’t bode well.
Ulster were great tonight, didn’t let Leinster settle. Great tenacity, line speed and ambition. Even had Furlong looking frustrated at one point.
Like Ireland did vs the All Blacks, Ulster dominated possession and didn’t let Leinster into the game.
Leinster beat the All Blacks but Ulster beat Leinster.
@Peter McClenaghan: well deserved win. As for furlong frank gave a penalty against him when he clearly latches on the ball and says the ruck was formed. Furlong was the only leinster player at the breakdown so hes the first player and allowed compete for the ball becuse there’s no ruck otherwise
@Chris Mc: was a 2nd Ulster player there before Furlong?
@Peter McClenaghan: a ruck is ome player from each team.
@Peter McClenaghan: Leinster were pretty much missing their whole first team haha
@Chris Mc: and you can’t put hands in a ruck. So the ref was right?
@Peter McClenaghan: you cant put your hand into a ruck especially if there is no ruck there in the first place. So no Frank was not right, i wont call him a ref becuse that would give the impression he was in some way capable.
@Harry O’Callaghan: sorry but leinster played 23 leunster players on full contracts, including a load of internationals. If they are not good enough then they show not be at the club. No disrespect ment to Ulster but they had a number of players not considered good enough to play for Leinster but still won. No excuses the better team won.
We didnt learn from the LR game that mcgrath and ross B just dont play fogether. Neither can see anything other than kicking the ball when under pressure.
Oh as and for tracy how can he still be allowed take lineout throws
@Chris Mc: Don’t understand why Sheehan wasn’t played as he didn’t have a huge amount of playing time for Ireland. Same applies to Baird
Enjoyed that. Wasn’t even that cold. SUFTUM.
Good