Juventus secured a valuable point towards Champions League qualification thanks to Gonzalo Higuain’s late equaliser against Sporting Lisbon.

 

Player Ratings

Defence

Gigi Buffon: Very little to do on the night – The one great save he made on Gelson Martins was parried away and left for Bruno Cesar to fire home – The defence and midfield absent, yet again.  5.0/10

Mattia De Sciglio:  A shaky first half, De Sciglio looked like a player returning from a long lay-off. He pushed up well but was caught out of position and gave the ball away on occasion. 5.0/10

Giorgio Chiellini: Beaten by Martins for the opening goal when he could and should have done better. Improved in the second half by making a great block and had little else to do as Sporting sat back  5.0/10

Andrea Barzagli: A better performance than his defensive teammate – Intelligently marshaled Dost and kept him quiet for most of the night. His marking as superb throughout.  5.5/10

Alex Sandro: I’m not entirely sure that Sandro ever returned to Turin after the summer break. He’s looked a pale reflection of the brilliant full-back he was last season. Defensively, he was sound, but he offered nothing at all going forward and he was all too easily pushed off the ball. Poor. 4.5/10

 

Midfield

Miralem Pjanic: Did just about enough to keep the team ticking over, but lacked any incisive passes to open up the Sporting backline. An average display from a player who needed to step up. 5.5/10

Sami Khedira: Slow and laboured and utterly anonymous. Another player who should and could have stepped up on the night to make a difference. Instead, he was looked off the pace and devoid of invention. 4.5/10

 


Attack

Juan Cuadrado: The best of a bad bunch, and that’s not saying much. He looked the most likely of the wingers to create something, and his work-rate can’t be faulted. It was his through ball that Higuain latched onto for the equaliser so he deserves the credit for making the difference.  6.0/10

Paulo Dybala: Kept dropping deep to pick up possession and try and create something. He seems to play all the better with a more dynamic midfielder behind him; Marchisio or Matuidi would be ideal in this system to allow La Joya more license to create. He looked frustrated and had little impact on the game overall.  5.0/10

Mario Mandzukic: His fight and tenacity can never be in doubt, but he looked ill suited to create anything against a stubborn Sporting side who defended well. At 1-0 down, we needed some imagination and vision to try and unlock the opposition and that never came. Frustrating. 4.5/10

Gonzalo Higuain: Another game, another Higuain goal. He looked isolated for much of the match as his teammates failed to give him and service, leaving him frustrated and struggling to make any impact. One through ball was enough for him to finish impeccably and had Juve got the ball to him more, perhaps the outcome would have been different. Grazie Pipa.  6.5/10

 

Substitutes

Douglas Costa: Posed a greater threat than Mandzukic had and his impact was immediate. Still needs to work on his end product though. 5.0/10

Federico Bernardeschi: Less than 10 minutes to make an impact, another cameo appearance when he could offer more when starting games. N/A

Blaise Matuidi: Played the last few minutes of the match and had no time to make an impact. N/A