In a wild game versus Atalanta, the Bianconeri could have easily taken home the full spoils as Cristiano Ronaldo missed a PK in the second half, but they also almost threw it away with a ten-minute blackout just after the opponents scored, so the final result was pretty accurate with what transpired on the pitch and not too bad overall.
Wojciech Szczesny: he is not called into action all that much, but when he does, he is always deciding and that was the case again on Wednesday. In the early going, he closed in on Duvan Zapata by rushing out of the goal brilliantly, which is starting to become his signature move, then guessed right and stayed on his post on a wicked free kick by Ruslan Malinovskyi. In the key stretch of the second half, he had a marvelous diving save on Cristian Romero that prevented the ship from sinking, as the Old Lady looked ripe for taking for a little while because re-gaining some composure. Despite the chances they conceded, the three defenders had a quality and very physical performance, and the caliber of the opponent should not be disregarded, with Leonardo Bonucci slightly outperforming his teammates with some excellent interventions.
Weston McKennie: Rodrigo Bentancur picked up more bonus points as he served the assist for Federico Chiesa, but McKennie was once again the best contributor in the midfield, recuperating a host of balls but also furnishing a plethora of good plays as his passing is underrated. He matched the energy of the opponents, thus keeping up the intensity in the midfield, which was much needed. Bentancur was fine as well and he thrives in this kind of gritty matches, while Arthur and Adrien Rabiot did not leave their mark. Par for the course for Juan Cuadrado, who has become an invaluable playmaker out of the right flank.
Federico Chiesa (4 points): with Cristiano Ronaldo and Alvaro Morata really struggling for the first time in the season, the ex-Fiorentina man pulled one out of the hat with a cannot shot from distance out of the blue as he was not all that involved up to that point and then drew a (soft) penalty kick that could have solved the contest. On top of being denied by Pierluigi Gollini there, Ronaldo was not his usual self and made few technical errors in a tilt where the room could have surely been exploited better, as the Orobici defended very aggressively as it is in their style. Morata fared a little better and only a monster saved prevented him from making the stat-sheet, but he too left a lot on the table.
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