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Football: Grande Palladino, Juventus victorious in Melbourne 4-1 |
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Juventus completed their Asia-Pacific tour on a high as Raffaele Palladino inspired them to a 4-1 win over Melbourne Victory.
On the day that Brazilian striking star Amauri joined the club, Palladino, whose future has been called into question, made the difference in front of a bumper crowd at the Docklands Arena.
After defeats against South China and Shenhua Shanghai, a second-string Old Lady 11 looked determined to end with a win and immediately took control of the game.
Nicola Legrottaglie found the net after just six minutes when he rose to meet a Marco Marchionni cross and headed powerfully into the back of the net.
Shortly after the break, Melbourne levelled through Costa Rica midfielder Carlos Hernandez after the Bianconeri’s defence had failed to clear a dangerous ball.
But it took Claudio Ranieri’s men just eight minutes to pull ahead once more as Marchionni was brought down in the box and Palladino converted the penalty.
In the dying minutes Juve added some gloss to the score-line when the superb Marchionni headed past Melbourne ‘keeper Mitchell Langerak in the 90th minute and Palladino finished the job with a neat strike in stoppage time. Channel4 |