Juventus 2 – Genoa 0: Initial reaction and random observations

TURIN, ITALY - APRIL 06: Weston McKennie of Juventus celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the Serie A match between Juventus FC and Genoa CFC at Allianz Stadium on April 06, 2026 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Alberto Gandolfo - Juventus/Juventus FC via Getty Images) | Juventus FC via Getty Images Juventus knew they wouldn’t be able to jump back into fourth place no matter what happened during Monday’s lunchtime kickoff between Como and Udinese. But with what played out in Udine, Juventus’ opportunity to cut the gap between themselves and fourth-place Como was there for the taking.

And they did just that. There were two very different kind of halves from Juventus on Monday evening, but thanks to about as dominant of an opening 45 minutes as anybody could have asked for with Gleison Bremer and Weston McKennie scoring goals within the first 20 minutes, the Bianconeri were able to ride that two-goal lead to a 2-0 victory over Genoa at the Allianz Stadium. With that win and Como’s scoreless draw against Udinese a few hours earler, the gap between fourth place and fifth place is now down to a single point.

And with Como the next team up to face Inter Milan on the Serie A schedule, there is a legit chance that Juventus could be in fourth by the time next weekend is over (or even as they’re heading back to Turin after the trip to Bergamo). But we won’t get too far ahead of ourselves because we know that is where things can get dicey. Hell, after such a big-time first-half performance from Luciano Spalletti’s squad, I don’t know if we were thinking that we might have to sweat out the final 15 or 20 minutes against a Genoa side that barely did anything in the opening 45 minutes.

Shoot, I don’t think anybody foresaw one of the second-half heroes that prevented Genoa from actually getting on the scoreboard being a much-maligned former starting goalkeeper who wasn’t in the starting lineup and hadn’t played since Juventus’ brutal loss to Como on Feb. 21 on this same field in Turin. On that day, Michele Di Gregorio was adding to his list of costly errors.