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Things looked bleek. Juventus were stuck in a 1-all draw with a team that entered Wednesday's contest third from bottom in the Serie A table. It was the Juve we had seen just a few days prior — nothing close to dangerous, nothing close to the one we wanted to see going into the weekend.
Paul Pogba, you glorious bastard.
Pogba's last-minute goal in stoppage time eliminated what was another drab outing from Juventus. They sat back rather than stepping on the gas and putting Bologna away with plenty of time to spare. Not exactly what we all wanted to see after the less-than-stellar 1-0 win over Catania 72 hours prior.
For whatever reason — Angelo Alessio's second-half strategy or his lack of firing the squad up at halftime — there just hasn't been the killer instinct as there was a season ago. And, thanks to Paolo De Ceglie's big-time mistake that lead to the game-tying goal from Saphir Taider with just 20 minutes left on the clock, it looked as though not being able to put the visitors completely away was going to come back and bite Juventus in the backside.
But Pogba saved the day, capping off another awesome performance with a deserved game-winning goal.
Now, Juventus have the chance to make it 50 straight Serie A games unbeaten in Serie A against Inter on Saturday night at the Juventus Stadium. The stage is set. Let us hope they answer the call. It's the Derby d'Italia, afterall.
My Man of the Match: Ummmmm...I dunno. So many players had great games. So many players to choose from.
Ah, screw it. PAUL POGBA.
It seemed like whenever Juve attacked the Bologna goal, Pogba played some kind of roll in it. His beautiful chip to Emanuele Giaccherini set up Fabio Quagliarella's opener in the 55th minute. He also seemed to step things up in terms of his overall physical play. Sure, he had a few times where he may or may not have taken a dive in hopes of drawing a foul, but I was impressed with the fact that he did a fair amount of holding a Bologna play off the ball as the tried to swoop in for the tackle. And that 84 percent pass succession rate doesn't hurt, either. Keep it going, kid.