Juventus 2-1 Cagliari: Yildiz brace completes first-half turnaround
Juventus returned to winning ways with a victory over Cagliari, led by first-half goals from the in-form Kenan Yildiz on Saturday.
Luciano Spalletti's unbeaten start to life at Juventus continued as a first-half brace from Kenan Yildiz earned his team a 2-1 victory over Cagliari at Allianz Stadium.
Juventus' win came after back-to-back draws in Serie A against Torino and Fiorentina, with their latest result moving them up to seventh and within a point of the top four.
But the hosts had to come from behind on Saturday after Sebastiano Esposito tucked home Marco Palestra's cross after a mistake from Juventus midfielder Filip Kostic.
However, Cagliari's joy was short-lived as, just over a minute later, Yildiz collected Khephren Thuram's pass before firing a right-footed shot beyond the grasp of Elia Caprile.
And Juventus got themselves ahead in the first minute of first-half stoppage time through Yildiz once again, with his finish into the bottom-right corner rounding off a fine individual move started by Weston McKennie's neat flick around the corner.
Not wanting to rest on their one-goal lead, Juventus flew out of the blocks after the break with Francisco Conceicao forcing Caprile into making a smart stop in the 48th minute.
Teun Koopmeiners then let fly from distance and narrowly missed the bottom corner, with Cagliari's Riyad Idrissi then forcing Mattia Perin into a save at the other end soon after.
Juventus remained untroubled for the rest of the match, with Conceicao's blazed strike over the crossbar in the 72nd minute the closest either side came to altering the scoreline.
Data Debrief: Age is just a number
While the start of Juventus' season stuttered, Yildiz has been in fine form for the Bianconeri, with his brace here taking him to four Serie A goals this season, proving why he is one of the most talented young players in world football.
Indeed, with his brace, Yildiz matched Pietro Anastasi (13 goals) in seventh place among Juventus' top scorers in Serie A before the age of 21, while among players having been involved in at least 20 goals in 2025 across Europe's top five leagues, only Lamine Yamal (37) and Desire Doue (30) are younger than Yildiz (21).
But Juventus were worthy of their win, registering an expected goals (xG) total of 1.75 from their 14 shots compared to Cagliari's 0.54 from their five attempts, which earned a 12th Serie A home win this calendar year, the joint-most in the division alongside Napoli, Roma and Inter.
