Juventus looked off the pace at times but ultimately did enough to see off Bologna with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Miralem Pjanic.
Juventus Player Ratings
Gigi Buffon: Hard to fault him on the Bologna equaliser as it was beyond his reach. Other than that, he looked relatively comfortable throughout and only had a few straightforward saves to make until the very end: Quite how he managed to keep that ball out is beyond me. Legend. 7.0/10
Juan Cuadrado: I think he could have done better on Danilo’s equalising goal as he should have closed down the space, but overall, a solid outing at right-back where he really seems to have found a new lease of life. 6.5/10
Leonardo Bonucci: His distribution from the back was superb and his overall reading of the game was excellent. 6.5/10
Matthijs De Ligt: Another good display from the youngster who looked really assured in every play he made tonight. Mixed it up with some good balls out from the back and kept his focus right until the end when he made a minor error that could have cost us. 6.0/10
Alex Sandro: Played a huge role in the opening goal with a marvellous run and his work-rate was immense for almost the entire 90 minutes, however he did switch off a little towards the end. 6.5/10
Midfield
Sami Khedira: Had a few encouraging moments with some decent passes to get the attack going and had a chance of his own to score a goal. 6.0/10
Miralem Pjanic: Another game, another goal, perfectly taken. Was marked out of the game for periods, but still had the vision to create opportunities for his teammates. Exceptional. 7.5/10
Adrien Rabiot: Made a few errors, but he grew into the game, carved out some good half chances and seemed to link up well with the forwards well. Encouraging. 6.5/10
Attack
Federico Bernardeschi: Supremely frustrating in the opening half but credit to him for stepping it up in the second and stamping his authority on the game. Could have had a goal to his name, but he still lacks the overall consistency to his game. 6.0/10
Cristiano Ronaldo: Six shots, three on target, two blocked and one off – On another night, he’d have had a hat trick. What a testament to the man that he went away on international duty and still played the entire 90 minutes, looking fresh from start to end. Man of the match. 7.5/10
Gonzalo Higuain: No goals to his name, but his performance was solid and had he come up against another keeper, he might have bagged at least one. Good movement and positioning, good link-up with Ronaldo. 6.0/10
Substitutes
Rodrigo Bentancur/Blaise Matuidi: Steadied the ship with the game all but won. 6.0/10
Paulo Dybala: N/A
