Juventus win in dramatic fashion against Valencia

Juventus UCL opening match against Valencia will be a hard one to forget with all the drama that arised. The Bianconeri managed to pull away with the win but not unscathed.

Lineups

Juventus: 4-3-3

Substitutions

23' Can in for Khedira

67' Costa in for Pjanic

89' Rugani in for Costa

Valencia: 4-4-2

Substitutions

57' Cheryshev in for Vezo

70' Gameiro in for Batshuayi

70' Mina in for Guedes

First half

Juventus started off the match according to gameplan. They defended well and created an abundance of great chances on goal. It’s very unfortunate that Juve were unable to find the back of the net in the first 20 minutes.

• Bernardeschi had a successful dribble and cross into the box to reach Ronaldo. Ronaldo misfired and Mandzu found the ball after, only to overshoot it.

• Ronaldo & Bernardeschi pretty much changed roles in the next big chance. Ronaldo had a successful dribble down the same flank and crossed the ball to Berna in the box. Bernardeschi passed it to Khedira which was running into the box and just like Mandzu, overshoot it.

• Lastly, Sandro got a cross into the box and Juve had multiple quick chances blocked.

As I said before, that was all within the first 20 minutes. That’s an absolutely great start to the game. In the 23rd minute, Can had to come in for Khedira which suffered a left thigh injury. To make matters worse, 6 minutes later in the 29th minute Ronaldo was sent off for an extremely soft decision. It was very unjust and I’m still very much pissed about it. It brought back memories of past poor performances by referees that negatively affected Juve. Juventus is a family and to see a player get sent off crying for no reason, really hurt to watch.

After Ronaldo’s dismissal, it seemed as if it knocked the air out of the team. Then came the 43rd minute right before halftime when Parejo fouled Cancelo in the box that led to a penalty. Pjanic, with nerves of steal, got us the opening goal. End of the first half. A very dramatic opening half seeing Juve get close to goal often, a send off and a penalty that brought back life into the team.

Second half

With one man down, Juventus had to try a lot harder to make up for it. In the 49th minute, a foul by Murillo gave Juventus the second penalty of the day. Pjanic was able to secure the goal once again. At this point, Juve went more defense oriented to conserve the lead. This was by far one of the best defensive displays I’ve seen Juve have. Valencia kept going forward without any luck. A bit later in the 67th minute, Costa came in for Pjanic which unfortunately ment he couldn’t complete a hat trick. About roughly 20 minutes later, Costa suffered an injury which saw him limp off the field. Rugani came in as his replacement. It was very disheartening to see a player sent off and two others leave to injury in the same game. A few minutes later after Rugani entered, he “fouled” Gabriel in the box. This was another very soft decision as it was NOT a penalty. Luckily, Szczesny went all Superman and guessed the angle of the shot to get a block. What an amazing performance by our goalkeeper! After many poor referee decisions going in favor of Valencia, I’m really glad they didn’t get the satisfaction of a goal. All the cheering they did when Ronaldo was sent of for nothing came back to bite them, karma. End of game.

The good

• Juventus looked amazing before Ronaldo’s send off. Not that they didn’t look good after his send off, but I ment in regards of when we had a full squad on the pitch. The entire team was clicking together the right way and looked extremely dangerous. Performances like this is what takes a team far into the UCL.

• Pjanic had a man of the match performance having lead the way to our win with his two successful penalties. As usual, he was in control of the midfield and is one of Juve’s most important players. We need to find him a capable partner in the near future.

• Bernardeschi continues to impress. I know he has had a lot of critics since joining from Fiorentina, but since the beginning I knew he would be an exciting one to watch. It’s easy to see how much he has progressed already and seems to have built a good claim to be a consistent starter. It’s even better to see those who criticized him now praise him for recent performances. He will be a very important player going into the future if he continues to perform this way.

• Just like Bernardeschi, Cancelo has also been a player that has performed well above expectations. We knew he would be a solid replacement at right back, but I personally didn’t expect him to perform this good. A lot of comparisons have been made between him and Dani Alves. I completely agree with this. Dani was amazing when joining the attack and was decent enough at defending. They are very similar in this regard. Last season I really felt we needed a player with traits similar to those of Alves. I think Cancelo still has a lot of room to grow so it’ll be exciting to watch his development as he has already showed his many talents.

• Szczęsny has proved once again he deserves to be a starter for Juve. He had a total of 6 saves, 47 touches on the ball, 35 passes made with an acc. of 54%, 10 of them being long balls and a saved penalty. He has a lot of confidence which allows him to be comfortable when he has the ball.

• As was proven in the first two games of the Serie A season, we don’t need Ronaldo to win games. Obviously, we’re better with him in the team but we don’t depend heavily on him for results. I’m very happy about this fact.

• Our defense was phenomenal. Sevilla had their chances before Juve sat back but had plenty more after we did. They ended the day with a crazy 26 attempted shots at goal. As you now know, Juve didn’t concede a single goal.

The bad

• Injuries are starting to become too frequent this early in the season. Before the game, Barzagli and De Sciglio were not featured due to injuries. During the game we lost Khedira and Costa with the seriousness of their injuries not clear yet. I can’t imagine what Costa must be feeling with his send off controversy the game before and to now go out injured a few days later. I hope a speedy recovery to all of our injured players.

• Ronaldo’s send off. I have no doubt in my mind that CR7 would have found the back of the net at least once had he not been given an unnecessary red card. He had already had a great amount of clear chances at goal which he slightly missed. You could tell he was hungry for one.

• This is another bad referee decision but Rugani’s “penalty” was in fact not valid. VAR needs to be introduced into the UCL to prevent things of this nature to ruin the beautiful game. It would have made the day go on without all the drama that happened.

Overall, what matters is that we move on with a win to our name. It was a costly match despite the W but I’m sure we’ll come back stronger. On to the next one.