Bremer's header gives Juventus the win in Serie A opener at Frosinone

A header from Bremer just past the quarter-hour mark was enough for Juventus to walk away with all three points from the Benito Stirpe. Frosinone 0, Juventus 1, with the goal arriving in the 21st minute off a corner kick that Francisco Conceição delivered into the heart of the box. The result leaves Juventus with a perfect record to start Serie A, while Frosinone remains without a point.

The match wasted no time showing the script that would repeat itself over the full 90 minutes: Juventus controlling the ball and generating chance after chance from set pieces, with Frosinone resisting as best it could. Back in the 6th minute Randal Kolo Muani had already tested Cerofolini with a shot from outside the box, and shortly after it was Conceição who gave a warning from the center of the area. Frosinone, for its part, had an early warning of its own with a header from Ilario Monterisi that flew high and wide to the right, and in the 12th minute Antonio Raimondo also tried his luck, though without success.

The persistence of the black and white shirts paid off in the 21st minute. Another corner, another cross from Conceição, and this time Bremer found himself unmarked in the middle of the box to head home and make it 0-1 on the scoreboard. It wasn't the Brazilian defender's only serious attempt: five minutes earlier he had already come close with another header that flew just wide.

With the lead in hand, Juventus kept generating danger. Douglas Luiz tried a direct free kick that grazed the crossbar in the 30th minute, and Kenan Yildiz and Lloyd Kelly also had their chances before halftime. Frosinone answered with a shot from Gabriele Bracaglia that was saved low by the goalkeeper and another attempt from Giorgi Kvernadze that skimmed the post, but the home side went into the break trailing on the scoreboard.

More of the same in the second half

The second half repeated the same movie: Juventus with the ball, Frosinone searching for the occasional isolated offensive spark. Seydou Fini fired a shot narrowly wide of the top corner in the 52nd minute, and deep into stoppage time, with the match all but decided, Gabriele Calvani smashed a header off the left post in the 92nd minute, the biggest scare Juventus faced all match. Neither side managed to add to the scoreline, and the 0-1 held until the final whistle.

Substitutions on both benches, with Andrea Cambiaso, Edon Zhegrova, Jérémie Boga and Teun Koopmeiners coming on for Juventus, and Patrizio Masini, Alessio Zerbin, Luis Hasa and Anthony Oyono entering for Frosinone, didn't do much to change the script of the match. There were yellow cards handed out too: Romano Schmid, Zeki Çelik, Andrea Cambiaso and Gabriele Calvani were all booked, each for dangerous play.

The numbers confirm the dominance

The statistics clearly reflect what was seen on the field: Juventus comfortably controlled possession and outpaced Frosinone in chances and shots.

The xG calculated from the match's shots also backs up that superiority: 0.973 for Frosinone against 2.383 for Juventus. Those figures point to a wide margin of control, though the final score ended up tighter than those numbers would suggest.

The preview we published before the match had Juventus as the clear favorite, with a 58% chance of victory compared to 17% for Frosinone and 25% for a draw. The expected goals we projected at the time, 0.94 for Frosinone and 1.87 for Juventus, 2.81 combined, came fairly close to what actually unfolded, though the final score fell short of that offensive projection: only one goal was scored in the entire match, despite no shortage of chances for either side.

With this result, Juventus reaches three points from its opening match of the campaign, part of a group of teams that also opened with wins. Frosinone, on the other hand, is left without points after its first matchday, facing the task of bouncing back as soon as possible in a tournament that has just gotten underway.