It was certainly a very busy Sunday this week. First, there was the South Africa 2010 World Cup Preliminary draw in the early afternoon. Then less than two hours later, the Euro 2007 UEFA Futsal Championship final (report coming up Monday here on mCalcio). Add the multitude of Serie A and Spanish Liga matches… and we get quite the soccer overdose! Overdose? Nah, never in soccer… although, the shots might have been a little too much for Palermo at the Stadio Olimpico of Turin tonight: the Rosanero were completely dominated by an extremely entertaining Juventus team, and had to pick the ball in their net five times, courtesy of David Trezeguet (marvelous bicycle kick), Vincenzo Iaquinta, Marco Marchionni, and an Alessandro Del Piero double.

Is this Juventus capable of contending another Scudetto title? Five goals to Palermo could be the start of an answer, a response which should include the difference in level between Inter, Roma, Udinese, Fiorentina, and (namely) Juventus, and the “lower” teams of the league rankings (AC Milan included, at least for now). With or without their emblematic captain Del Piero, on his return from the international break Claudio Ranieri seems to have found an extremely motivated Juventus team: cynical, in great condition, capable of transforming into goal at least half of the scoring chances they obtained. The fact that Palermo weren’t putting up too much a fight certainly helped.

Tactically, there were some good and bad news for either coach. Palermo’s Stefano Colantuono had to deal with the absences of keeper Alberto Fontana and ex-Bianconero Fabrizio Miccoli, and so started backup Federico Agliardi in net. Due to the absence of his “motor” striker, the finishing job was left in the lone hands of target man Amauri, supported by Franco Brienza as playmaker. Mark Bresciano was back from his injury, but was precautiously left on the sidelines. On the other end, Ranieri was counting on the recovery of Zdenek Grygera, but apparently the Czech right-back’s international duty injury was more serious than anticipated. The Juve backline was therefore composed of Zebina (back from suspension), Legrottaglie, Criscito and Molinaro. Up front, Iaquinta was given a starting role next to Trezeguet, at the expense of captain Del Piero.

Overall, one could say that in this match Juve didn’t miss a beat, much to the contrary of Palermo. In particular, the approach to the match was entirely different for the two teams: Trezeguet and Iaquinta might not be the best free-flowing striking pair of the Italian league, but their movement of the offside line can create disagreements to the majority of Serie A teams. Not to mention that their finishing (Trezeguet’s in particular) is rivaled by none (or close). The Frenchman was the first to open the score for the Bianconeri, when in the 29^th a corner-kick by Mauro Camoranesi was nicely laid-off by Nicola Legrottaglie, and David Trezeguet armed his bicyle kick shot to put the ball in the net. 1-0 Juve.

Shortly before the break, Juve made it 2-0: a push on the wing by Camoranesi was followed by an accurate low cross for Vincenzo Iaquinta on the first post. The Juve striker skilfully tackled the ball to protect it from Andrea Barzagli’s intervention, then flicked it onto the first post avoiding the keeper’s rush. A goal by a pure striker!

In the 2^nd half, the rhythm didn’t change much for Palermo: slow, inaccurate in their passing, the Rosanero were having an enormous amount of trouble even keeping possession for more than a few seconds at a time. Only chance worth mentioning, a (semi) dangerous rotating shot by Cristian Zaccardo, that Buffon stopped on the first post. Aside from that, it was all Juve once again. Iaquinta left the field with a little knock (probably cramps) and left his place to Alessandro Del Piero, and the Juve captain didn’t take very long to leave his mark on the match: within 3 minutes of his entrance, Juve won a free-kick 25m out on the right side, and “Pinturicchio” delivered a delicious inswinging parabola that left Agliardi rooted to the spot. 3-0 Juve.

3 minutes later, cue another goal by a fresh substitute: this time it was Marco Marchionni (back on the field after a knee injury that kept him out for 3 months), ready to exploit a lightning-fast Bianconeri counter-attack finalized by an inch-perfect Del Piero assist. Out on the right wing, Marchionni waited for Agliardi to rush out and anticipate the pass to the center, then slid the ball into an empty net. 4-0 Juve.

The final cap on the game was a Pavel Nedved incursion on the left, followed by a Giuseppe Biava sliding tackle inside the box. P.K. and a double for Alessandro Del Piero. 5-0 the final score. In anticipation of Milan-Juve next week-end, quite an appetizing hors d’oeuvre for the Bianconeri today.

	JUVENTUS-PALERMO5-0[Match Highlights]
GOALSCORERS: 32′ Trezeguet, 40′ Iaquinta, 70’, 91′ pen. Del Piero, 75’ Marchionni
JUVENTUS (4-4-2): Buffon – Zebina, Legrottaglie, Criscito, Molinaro – Camoranesi (71’ Marchionni), Nocerino, C.Zanetti, Nedved – Iaquinta (67’ Del Piero), Trezeguet (77’ Palladino). (bench: Belardi, Birindelli, Salihamidzic, Tiago). Coach: Ranieri.
PALERMO (4-4-1-1): Agliardi – Zaccardo, Barzagli, Biava, Pisano – Diana, Guana (75’ Migliaccio), Simplicio, Caserta (46’ Cavani) – Brienza (60’ Bresciano) – Amauri. (bench: Fontana, Rinaudo, Cassani, Gio.Tedesco). Coach: Colantuono.

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As a bonus, a sample of match pictures courtesy of Kataweb Sport

Juve 1-0 Palermo: David Trezeguet’s bicycle kick finds the net