Juventus 3-0 Pescara, Khedira and Mandzukic exchanged assists

Juventus did the bare minimum to see off Pescara 3-0, as Sami Khedira and Mario Mandzukic exchanged assists, and Moise Kean made history.

This was their 23rd consecutive Serie A home victory, just two shy of the all-time record set by the Turin giants from August 2013 to December 2014.

The Bianconeri rotated the squad after international duty and ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League showdown with Sevilla, resting Gigi Buffon, Miralem Pjanic, Claudio Marchisio, Giorgio Chiellini and Dani Alves, while Paulo Dybala, Medhi Benatia, Marko Pjaca and Andrea Barzagli were injured. Pescara had only one win this season and that was handed to them for Sassuolo fielding an ineligible player. Andrea Coda, Jean-Christophe Bahebeck, Norbert Gyomber and Valerio Verre were sidelined.

The Delfini had visited Turin six times in Serie A, emerging with a lone point thanks to the 1-1 draw in February 1989.

Gonzalo Higuain’s glancing header whistled just wide from an Alex Sandro cross and he failed to make the most of two Dario Zuparic errors.

Hernanes drilled wide from distance and Pescara threatened to take a shock lead on 24 minutes when Hugo Campagnaro put a long ball over the top and Daniele Rugani did just enough to put off Gianluca Caprari at full stretch, forcing him to fire wide.

Stephan Lichtsteiner called for a substitution and ran off the field after 25 minutes, reportedly due to a stomach bug, making way for Juan Cuadrado.

Juventus broke through with a goal out of nowhere, as Khedira completed a give-and-go with Mario Mandzukic to toe-poke past Albano Bizzarri from 10 yards.

The visitors continued to have chances, mainly due to defensive errors, but failed to make the most of them with Bryan Cristante late to react on an Alex Sandro mistake and then Neto punching a Ledjan Memushaj shot straight up into the air.

After the restart Caprari again wasted a promising counter-attack, as Juan Cuadrado sprinted back to tackle him. Cristante’s terrible back-pass almost gifted Juve a second, but Higuain’s strike only thumped against the far post.

Higuain’s finish was too weak to beat Bizzarri at the near post after a promising counter, but they did double their lead eventually, Mandzukic in the right place to redirect a wayward Khedira header from close range.

Pescara’s heads visibly dropped and Hernanes added a third, unleashing a right-foot scorcher from distance that flew in at the near post. He celebrated with his trademark backflip.

Stefano Sturaro also stung Bizzarri’s gloves, but there was time for Juventus to make some more history. They introduced 16-year-old Moise Kean for his debut, the first player born in this Millennium to feature in Serie A.

However, Pescara almost ruined Neto’s clean sheet in the final minute, the Brazilian using his foot to parry one effort and the Zuparic follow-up cleared off the line by Patrice Evra.

Kean earned a proud reception from the crowd for earning a corner in stoppages.

Juventus: Neto; Rugani, Bonucci, Evra; Lichtsteiner (Cuadrado 25), Khedira (Sturaro 71), Hernanes, Asamoah, Alex Sandro; Mandzukic (Kean 84), Higuain

Pescara: Bizzarri; Campagnaro (Vitturini 46), Zuparic, Biraghi; Zampano, Cristante (Bruno 75), Brugman, Crescenzi; Memushaj; Pettinari (Pepe 64), Caprari