Juventus 2-1 Venezia: Player ratings as Bonucci bags brace for Bianconeri

A brace from birthday boy Leonardo Bonucci earned Juventus a scratchy 2-1 Serie A win at home to relegation-struggling Venezia.

To begin with, there were few signs of grogginess as Juve flew out of the traps for Sunday's early kick-off. Within the opening ten minutes, the Bianconeri had clattered the crossbar, seen a penalty appeal dismissed and taken the lead.

Bonucci found himself on the end of a well-worked set-piece initially flung out to Matthijs de Ligt who nodded the ball across for his centre-back partner.

Pressing Serie A's rock-bottom side high up the pitch, Juve offered Venezia a way back into the match via surges into the open space this proactive approach offered the visitors.

In the first match under caretaker manager Andrea Soncin, Venezia's top scorer Thomas Henry failed to add to his tally halfway through the opening 45, steering his header a whisker wide of the post.

Having suffered one too many flickers of threat, Massimiliano Allegri's side promptly sat back, shuffling into a compact shape off the ball and allowing Venezia possession in the Allianz Stadium.

Bathed in Turin's lunchtime sun, Juve played much of the second half as though they were mentally mulling over the menu of their post-game meal. That complacency allowed Mattia Aramu the freedom of Juve's penalty box to blaze a clear sight of goal over the bar after 70 minutes.

Yet, Aramu didn't have long to labour over his squandered effort, thumping a much harder chance into the corner for his first Serie A goal since December's reverse fixture against Juve.

Belatedly poked into life by Aramu's equaliser, an added zip and urgency from Juve earned them a corner. Sniffing around the six-yard box, Bonucci bundled in his second to restore a lead Juve scarcely deserved five minutes after they were pegged back.

Allegri replaced his striker Dusan Vlahovic with the wily veteran centre-back Giorgio Chiellini as Juve shut up shop for the closing stages, inflicting Venezia's ninth consecutive defeat.

Juventus player ratings vs Venezia

1. Juventus (4-4-2)

GK: Wojciech Szczesny - 6/10 - Twice denied Aramu - especially impressively from a free-kick - but couldn't do too much more to prevent his fizzed equaliser.

RB: Danilo - 6/10 - Calmly carried out a subtle but crucial role, flexibly tucking inside to create a back-three as Juve (albeit a bit ponderously) built from the back.

CB: Leonardo Bonucci - 7/10 - On his 35th birthday, the skipper took his tally to 35 Juventus goals, commandingly sweeping up in Juve's box.

CB: Matthijs de Ligt - 7/10 - Steaming around the pitch, De Ligt appeared particularly riled up as he managed to channel his tenacity into (largely) well-timed tackles.

LB: Luca Pellegrini - 6/10 - Thwacked a sweetly struck rasper off the crossbar early on but last season's loanee came unstuck when lured into a battle of strength.

RM: Federico Bernardeschi - 5/10 - Had his early attacking tendencies checked as Allegri sought to bolt the door before he was hooked off altogether inside an hour.

CM: Denis Zakaria - 4/10 - Got away with a yellow card when clattering into Pietro Ceccaroni with a forceful, studs-up challenge in the first half.

CM: Fabio Miretti - 7/10 - On his first-ever Serie A start, the 18-year-old took 15 minutes to adapt to the speed of a particularly pacey contest but soon was strutting around with confidence, dropping to collect the ball and combining going forward.

LM: Adrien Rabiot - 6/10 - Invariably guilty of some lazy passes but demonstrated some much-needed athleticism when the game broke into transitions.

ST: Dusan Vlahovic - 5/10 - The first port of call for a forward pass of the ball, Vlahovic's hold-up play was mixed at best.

ST: Alvaro Morata - 6/10 - Caught between left-wing and centre-forward, Morata spent more time scrapping than shooting.

SUB: Paulo Dybala (58' for Bernardeschi) - 5/10 - Struggled to exert much of an influence on proceedings.

SUB: Alex Sandro (58' for Pellegrini) - 5/10 - Rashly earned himself a yellow card within five minutes of his arrival.

SUB: Moise Kean (69' for Morata) - 6/10

SUB: Arthur (79' for Miretti) - N/A

SUB: Giorgio Chiellini (79' for Vlahovic) - N/A