Juventus fell into a coma for about 20 minutes in the first half in Lyon and that was enough to ruin a game that they for the most part conducted, or at least tried to, as the adversaries withstood a late push that could have easily led to a goal. The Bianconeri will have their work cut out for them in Turin against a very diligent team.
Matthijs De Ligt: the Old Lady keeps finding ways to give up wacky goals and the latest instalments was conceding while the back-line was all discombobulated because the Dutch starlet was on the sidelines getting treatment for a deep cut. It was a tidy performance besides that, but a goal is often enough to swing the qualification in this competition. De Ligt, with heavy bandage on his head, had almost a vintage Giorgio Chiellini performance in the second half and his recuperations deep into enemy territory set the tone. Danilo and Alex Sandro had plenty of room to attack but they did not take advantage of it due to a host of misplaced passes and crosses.
Aaron Ramsey: he lit a fuse when he subbed in, and Rodrigo Bentancur moved to pivot, with his creativity, movement and passing. He put a great ball right on Cristiano Ronaldo’s head, leading to one of the two substantial penalty claims of the night. The Uruguayan youngster was also positive throughout the contest, thwarting few dangerous situations and taking big responsibilities on the offensive end. He also had a gorgeous assist, but Paulo Dybala was slightly offside. Miralem Pjanic and Adrien Rabiot instead had a pretty terrible outing and played way too slowly, while Juan Cuadrado’s limitations were on display as he was asked to create rather than simply bring the juice and play off his teammates.
Paulo Dybala: he was completely swallowed up by the more physical French centre-backs for about two/thirds on the game, then he put on a show when it was go-time and he moved to the right wing, masterminding the most threatening opportunities. Unfortunately, he sent wide two shots where he should have done better with his golden left foot. Cristiano Ronaldo’s scoring streak came to a close, but it was paradoxically a very convincing performance, as he led the charge, too often single-handedly, when nobody had it going in few stretches of the first 45 minutes, creating some troubles with his dribbles and sudden strikes.
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