Paulo Dybala put in a Man of the Match performance in Juventus’s 4-2 victory over Zenit St Petersburg, and he insists that our side needed the performance.

The Old Lady have been struggling for form domestically, but have so far managed to maintain a 100% record in the Champions League, and last night’s performance ended a three-game winless run.

Dybala dedicated one of his two goals to Michel Platini, despite the ongoing investigation into his dealings with UEFA, before opening up about his side’s performance, one that he insists was ‘needed’ after our recent form.

“The celebration was a tribute to Michel Platini, who is an idol for football and for Juve,” Dybala claimed as quoted by Juventus.com. “We needed an evening like this. After the first half we went into the locker room knowing that we had to play more calmly in the second half. We were playing a good game, but we needed more patience and we had it. We played a great second half, managing to create many opportunities. In the attacking phase we did well, bringing many players up into the final third, but we could have even scored more goals. This is the right way.”

One performance won’t convince us that we are back on track, but this showing was our best of the season thus far. We had attacking flair and the confidence to attack in numbers, and while Zenit pushed hard, they were lucky to get their first goal which made the fixture that bit harder.

There is a lot of positives to take out of the game however, despite the fact that some of our key players are still not back to 100% after injuries, and I can’t wait to see them bring that same level and passion when we take on Fiorentina come Saturday evening.

Patrick