If Luciano Spalletti told his players to “use their heads” before the game, they took him all too literally, but to full effect.
Less than four minutes were played when a half-clearance was headed back into the danger area by Khephren Thuram, helped on by the head of Lloyd Kelly, and headed in by Bremer, albeit with a big deflection to take it past Justin Bijlow.
Thuram went close with an effort from 25 yards minutes later, but Juve’s brilliant start was rewarded with a second goal in the 17th minute.
On a counter-attack, Weston McKennie swept the ball wide to Francisco Conceicao, who drew the defence before laying the ball back for the American to unleash a low, first-time strike.
Genoa finally managed to enjoy a spell of pressure midway through the half, but their lack of end product could be best explained by the next shot on goal being a curling effort from the hosts’ Kenan Yildiz, which was comfortably saved.
The home side should have all but wrapped the game up two minutes before half-time, when Yildiz knocked Conceicao’s deep cross back across goal, but somehow, McKennie cleared the crossbar with a shot from two yards out.
The American was left wondering why his luck had deserted him early in the second half, when Thuram latched onto a free-kick floated into the box and chose to square instead of going for goal himself, but McKennie couldn’t stretch far enough to divert it goalwards.
A poor clearance from Bijlow immediately gave The Old Lady another chance, as Jonathan David took aim from the edge of the box, only for his strike to clatter the upright.
Tommaso Baldanzi then produced Genoa’s first shot on target, which was easily dealt with by Michele Di Gregorio – who replaced Mattia Perin at half-time – but McKennie redeemed himself on the visitors’ next attack, making a key block to deny Aaron Caricol.
However, it would be Bremer’s turn to lose his hero status in the final 20 minutes, as his foul on Caricol saw Genoa given a penalty by VAR, after the referee had initially awarded a free-kick.
The fouled player took responsibility, but Di Gregorio guessed correctly to not only save the penalty, but also deny Caricol’s volley when the rebound was crossed back in.
The Bianconeri goalkeeper then confirmed his clean sheet by denying Patrizio Masini’s late header, before Arkadiusz Milik shot narrowly over from just inside the Genoa half.
Juve are now five matches unbeaten in Serie A and in head-to-head meetings with Il Grifone, who missed a rare chance to register consecutive away victories.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Michele Di Gregorio (Juventus)
