Juventus again managed to dig deep right at the conclusion of a game and secured the qualification to the next stage of Champions League thanks to a late goal by Douglas Costa.
Leonardo Bonucci: in general, the back-line handled the physicality of the Lokomotiv strikers, Eder in particular, better than in Turin, which represented a small surprise considering the two more muscular centre-backs were not on the pitch. Leonardo Bonucci and Daniele Rugani answered well to that challenge, but the whole defence were often too content with sitting back rather than assailing the opponents on their rare raids, which caused the goal and some other unnecessarily dangerous situations. Danilo and Alex Sandro mostly focused on their defensive duties and were quite diligent there, but at times the squad appeared to need more width up front and they should have provided it. Bonucci stood out over his teammates thanks to a goal-line clearance.
Aaron Ramsey: the Welshman punched it in a ball that probably would have crossed the line anway, but he was not very impactful throughout the rest of the game, as he spent the evening trying to find the right position. He still lack that pep in his step he had before. Adrien Rabiot was instead sneakily good and proactively supported the offence down the left flank and his touch and dribbles in tight places are surprisingly effective. Sami Khedira had a decent outing as well and dished a sterling ball over to set up Gonzalo Higuain in the first half. Miralem Pjanic instead had a more subdued performance and preferred patrolling the zones in front of the defence to venturing up front. The usual energy out of Rodrigo Bentancur.
Douglas Costa: he is not peak Flash yet, but he was head and shoulders above the other forwards despite playing limited minutes. He led the pack in the final ten minutes, the only real stretch where the Bianconeri really pushed for a goal, and found the target at the end of a terrific scamper and a pretty combination with Higuain, where he efforlessly eluded defenders. El Pipita was visible there and on the aforementioned shot, but overall was held in check pretty well the opponents. Cristiano Ronaldo instead looked inspired right from the get-go, massively contributed to the goal with a wicked free kick and moved around a lot, asking for the ball and obviously always looking to score, but the goalkeeper got in his way.
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