Max Allegri handed Rodrigo Bentancur and Mattia De Sciglio their first Juventus starts at the Camp Nou but it wasn’t enough to stop a rampant Barcelona.
Player Ratings
Gigi Buffon: Started well by making a magnificent reaction save to deny Suarez but his defence did him no favours when they allow Messi to dance in behind the back line to open the scoring. Unable to stop the Barca tide in the second-half. 6.0/10
Mattia De Sciglio: Started brightly, testing Ter Stegen with a shot from distance – Looked assured at the back before almost gifting a goal to Dembele. Subbed off with injury. 5.5/10
Andrea Barzagli: Did well to cover in the first half and seemed to building a good rhythm with Benatia before being totally overrun in the second half. Disappointing, considering his experience. 5.0/10
Medhi Benatia: Impressive for 44 minutes, like much of the team, before being pulled all over the back by Messi and co. Wasn’t able to keep pace with the fast Barca attack. Underwhelming 5.0/10
Alex Sandro: Encouraging first half where he was trying to keep pace with Dembele, but he went MIA in the second and was utterly abject at the back. Needs to improve in the weeks to come. 5.0/10
Rodrigo Bentancur: A really promising debut, considering the circumstances. He looked confident and unintimidated by the the spectacle, putting together some good passes, defending well, despite picking up a booking. 6.0/10
Miralem Pjanic: Another bright spark on an otherwise unforgettable night. Dominant display early on, pulling the strings in midfield, playing with more freedom, creating chances and having a good effort from distance fire just wide. Did what he could in the final part of the game to limit the damage but Barca were a class above. 6.5/10
Blaise Matuidi: Had a half-chance to score early on – Seems to be improving in midfield, but even he couldn’t stop Messi and Suarez cutting through the back-line to score. 6.0/10
Douglas Costa: Much improved from the weekend cameo, he looked like Juve’s bright spark, pushing Semedo back, putting in some great crosses for his teammates. 6.5/10
Paulo Dybala: A good start in attack, finding space and making a few half-chances for the team. Deprived of the ball for the final 45 mins and was unable to make anything happen. 5.5/10
Gonzalo Higuain: Made some intelligent runs early on, but without the ball at his feet or any form of service, he was a spectator for much of the match. 5.0/10
Substitutes
Stefano Sturaro: Underwhelming at right-back where he failed to make any impact whatsoever on the game. 5.0/10
Federico Bernardeschi: Given a brief cameo late on when Juve were already 3-0 down, had a good chance spurned. Hope to see him play more often. N/A
Fabrizio Caligara: A nice touch from Allegri when the game was all but over, throwing on the youngster who was promptly booked within a few minutes. N/A
Disappointing evening. Didn’t bother watching the final 10 minutes, I had seen enough already. Still, not a man lost, we simply have no margin for error in this group anymore. Going to need to win everything from here on, especially against Olympiakos and Sporting we need to bag 6/6.
Let’s stay calm and patient, this group needs some time to get going again. You can’t get it much harder than playing Barca at Camp Nou and they did well for half a game.
No excuses for that second half though. Shameful and inexcusable. Time to bring out the whip Mister
It is still very early in the season to make any assumptions as of what our campagne will look like but I agree with you. The group is strong and it does not leave much space for droppen points. What really bothers me, is that we had a similar game to the final. The first minutes owning the other team and failing to score, then concede one and by the middle of the second half a total colapse. I do not know if it is physical or psychological but unless fixed, there is no way we go beyond the final 8 this year.
Last but not least, I know Allegri is the manager and by now I learned to trust him even at his most curious decisions but it seems to me we will have a repeat of the Pjanic saga with Costa and Berna. Last year Allegri wanted an AMC to play 4321, he got one and decided to change formation and try to teach the lad a new position (my humble opinion: it did not work that good). This year he needed 2 wingers to be able to play his new love 4231, he gets them for 80M and he hardly plays them, or plays a DM on the wing. I would not be suprised if we see yet another change to the formation as we approach christmas. Hopefully as succesfull as the migration from the old one to the 4231.
PS: In Allegri and Co. we trust.
Agreed, as a fan on the sidelines it can be frustrating, mostly because we don’t know WHY Allegri makes this or that decision. We can only judge what we see and try to deduce why it happened so.
Nobody is infallible, but Allegri is a highly capable manager. Patience is key, as always. Your points are valid, in my eyes. Rather a flexible coach as Allegri than one who can’t shake things up when you’re getting stale and predictable
It’s funny…
Play 4-2-3-1, play 4-3-3 against Barca and get banged.
Play 4-2-3-1 during 16/17 season, in final with Real take 3-5-2 and get banged.
Speak at a press conference that losing with Barca means nothing.
#MaxMotivation
by Max Allegri
😐
This game had a bit of a Cardiff feeling in that it was a tale of two halves. We looked good in the first half and fell apart in the second. Dybala and Higuain were nowhere to be found, much like in Cardiff.
People chalking up the loss to Messi’s brilliance are really giving our defenders a pass. They made it way too easy for him. Alex Sandro looked bad. Benatia, I don’t expect much from. Barzagli could have done better.
In any case, this is not catastrophic by any stretch. Topping Barca is unlikely but Juve will beat the other opponents in the group to advance.