Soccer-Juve beat Bologna 3-0 as Kostic scores first Serie A goal

Juve midfielder Kostic fired home a diagonal drive to score the opener in the 24th minute for his first Serie A goal after being played through by his Serbia team mate Vlahovic. Midfielder Weston McKennie had previously threatened with a header in the 13th minute from a Kostic cross but the ball went straight into the hands of Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski.

(Updates with quotes, more Serie A results) Oct 2 (Reuters) -

Juventus secured a 3-0 home victory over Bologna thanks to goals by Filip Kostic, Dusan Vlahovic and Arkadiusz Milik in Serie A on Sunday to ease some of the pressure on manager Max Allegri. The win leaves Juve in seventh place with 13 points from eight games as they trail leaders Napoli by seven points.

"It is a clean and important win, we have not been winning for a month. The guys were good, we are keeping a low profile because we are still behind," Allegri told DAZN. Juve midfielder Kostic fired home a diagonal drive to score the opener in the 24th minute for his first Serie A goal after being played through by his Serbia team mate Vlahovic.

Midfielder Weston McKennie had previously threatened with a header in the 13th minute from a Kostic cross but the ball went straight into the hands of Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski. Forward Arkadiusz Milik came close to extending the lead some 15 minutes before halftime as he tried to slot home an Alex Sandro cross but he was denied by Skorupski.

Vlahovic then scored with a header in the 59th minute following a superb cross by McKennie before Milik smashed the ball into the net from inside the box three minutes later. "Milik is a player who can play soccer really well ... but most importantly he can play well with Vlahovic," Allegri added.

Vlahovic could have netted again in the 67th but his strike went wide. That was followed by another effort from Milik four minutes later but his header crashed against the post. Juve visit fourth-placed AC Milan on Saturday when Bologna, 17th with six points, host bottom-placed Sampdoria.

Lazio's Sergej Milinkovic-Savic scored a second-half double as they thrashed Spezia 4-0, while Atalanta edged Fiorentina 1-0 thanks to Ademola Lookman's second Serie A goal. Lazio are third in the table level on 17 points with Milan and three points behind Napoli and second-placed Atalanta.

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