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Juventus 2 - Fiorentina 1: Initial reaction and random observations

I wanna hug him, too, Patrice.
I wanna hug him, too, Patrice.
Gabriele Maltinti/Getty Images

I have no idea where to start this. I feel pretty safe in saying the reason is simply because the lede to this thread was blown up about five times over the course of the second half. The twists and turns that happened over the course of the last 50 or so minutes of resembled that of a roller coaster ride that you hate on the outside yet secretly enjoyed on the inside. That's what kind of game it was.

I guess the easiest way to get this going is to mention one name.

That would be Gianluigi Buffon.

Why? Well, because it's simple, really. If it weren't for Buffon saving Fiorentina's 89th-minute penalty off the foot of Nikola Kalinic — and then the kick save on the follow up by Federico Bernardeschi — this recap would have a totally different tone to it. A wild second half was capped by Buffon's save on a penalty that should have never been called on Juan Cuadrado in the first place, keeping Juventus in front and preventing any last-minute kind of drama Serie A script writers would have eaten up with glee.

Ball don't lie.

Ball don't freakin' lie, man.

That game was whacky — and that's probably an understatement based on how the second half went. It was like the kinda ordinary and so-so first half had a couple too many glasses of vino at the halftime interval and came back on the field ready to party. And, well, it did. It had questionable refereeing decisions that impacted both teams. We saw great Buffon saves even before the penalty that should have never been a penalty.

Then you have Fiorentina tying the game and Juventus going ahead courtesy of Álvaro Morata seemingly seconds after Kalinic made it 1-1. How rude, right? They didn't even give Fiorentina a chance to finish all of their celebrations.

Just weird, whacky, whatever you want to call it. Then end result on the scoreboard, though, that's what matters the most. It means Juventus can either wrap up the Scudetto with a Napoli loss to Roma on Monday night or a point against Carpi at Juventus Stadium next weekend. Either way, it's about to be a party the next time Juventus plays in Turin, that's for sure.

I don't know, man. That second half seemed to zap my thought process. I hope you understand. All I know is that Gigi Buffon is good, Morata scores important goals and Juve are about to win the Scudetto again. Could be worse.

Random thoughts and observations

  • Seriously, if somebody tells me Buffon isn't the best goalkeeper in the world, I'm gonna brawl. When you've got teammates openly saying you're not human after the game, then yeah, you're the G.O.A.T.

  • Speaking of people who are playing out of their mind and showing they're not human, Paul Pogba, he's pretty good. The assist on Mario Mandzukic's goal just shows how diverse his game is. The ability to rise up and give an on-point header with a man draped all over him? Bow down to Pogba, he's just that good.

  • Remember when people were freaking out because Mandzukic wasn't scoring much at the beginning of the season? I do. But guess who now has hit the double-digit mark in Serie A in terms of goals scored? That would be Mandzukic, who now has four goals in his last five games against league opponents.

  • It's hard to believe with the way he's played as of late, but Daniele Rugani can have bad games. And he didn't have a great game against Fiorentina by any means. For as cool and calm he is, he just looked a little rattled. So much so he actually picked up a yellow card, his first ever in 53 Serie A appearances.

  • That was a Leonardo Bonucci mistake from his first year or two with Juve that lead to Fiorentina's goal. He's earned our trust, but man, that wasn't a good sight to see — especially knowing how he's seemingly eliminated those brain farts from his game the past couple of years.

  • Paulo Dybala had a quiet night. Morata came on for him. Morata ends up scoring the game-winning goal. Max Allegri aced that sub once again. Bravo to you, Mister.

  • I want Juventus to keep Mario Lemina. I don't care if it's on loan for another season or on a permanent basis. He's showing that he belongs.

  • Gigi Buffon is good. I probably should mention that again, huh?