Juventus had the fortune of facing a team that was dealing its own demons in the Derby della Mole and Torino’s problems in late-game situations turned out to be more severe and costly than the Bianconeri’s own struggles.
Leonardo Bonucci (4 points): what he took away with a silly offside on the Juan Cuadrado goal, he then gave back in the dying minutes with a precise, but fairly easy, game-winning header. The back-line gave up one goal on a fortuitous bounce on a corner kick and looked in a fire drill whenever the Granata had the opportunity to counter but, despite the sense of panic, managed to stop them in most occasions, even if with last-ditch efforts. Wojciech Szczesny had a key role in that by coming out of the goal furiously on Simone Zaza to prevent an early two-nothing lead for the road team. No major howlers, but the defence just does not seem in sync and leaves too much room between its piece, in front of it and behind. Not great.
Juan Cuadrado (3 points): Weston McKennie scored, but the Colombian speedster was surely Juventus’ savior in this one as he delivered two picture-perfect crosses on both goals. Before that, he was denied a goal by a VAR review for mistake by a teammate. The Old Lady often lacks juice, but Cuadrado never does and in this case he was decisive with his technique as well. The American youngster just needed to nudge it home and provided some energy off the bench. Among the central midfielders, Rodrigo Bentancur was leaps and bounds better than Adrien Rabiot as he was not only active, but also outstanding, in the passive phase, while the Frenchman is not exactly geared for battle. Dejan Kulusevski got the start but had insurmountable troubles in finding the right position and doing something useful whenever he got the ball and Aaron Ramsey was not much better.
Federico Chiesa: the two forwards were constantly bottled up centrally and the squad as a whole rarely manage to put to send in juicy through balls, so it was tough sledding for both Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala, who barely had any chance, and Alvaro Morata was sorely missed. The wing players instead had more room and, even if in less noticeable fashion than Cuadrado, Chiesa exploit it decently, engaged in a fiery duel with the specimen Wilfred Singo, often tracked back with vigor and in general was sprightlier than his teammates up front.
Do you have what it takes to challenge the best Serie A Fantasy Managers? If you’re up for it play fantasyseriea.com now!
To leave a comment, you must be logged into www.eurofantasyleague.com