Juventus were wasteful and lacked impetus, but a late Paulo Dybala winner stunned the Olimpico and breathed new life into Juve’s title challenge.
Player Ratings
Defence
Gigi Buffon: Meticulous. Tested by a Immobile header in the first half and a wayward effort in the second. San Gigi was sharp and focused throughout and kept us in the game. 7.0/10
Medhi Benatia: Clinical. Made three vital interceptions and looked switched on from the first minute to the last. Dominant in the air, strong in the tackle. A superb display. 7.0/10
Daniele Rugani: Exemplary. All too easy to downplay his contribution, but he bought the ball out from the back, marked Immobile to the point where the Lazio striker was rendered ineffective, and was on hand to provide the game winning assist at the death. His second strong display in two successive games, with no drop off in performance. Bravo! 7.5/10
Andrea Barzagli: Completed 6/7 tackles, a strong presence at the back. cleaning up the Lazio attacks on the right flank and being foot-perfect on the set-pieces. 6.5/10
Kwadwo Asamoah: His defensive game was stronger than his attacking display, in part due to the teams proclivity to pass backwards for so much of the match. Battled well against Lulic and had the measure of his counterpart. 6.0/10
Stephan Lichtsteiner: Seemed to struggle at times against Lukaku and his theatrics can wear thin, even if they give us an advantage overall. His passing was woeful but his presence on the right was a good deterrent for 90 minutes. 5.5/10
Midfield
Blaise Matuidi: His passing can’t be faulted as he looked to push Juve forward. A ball of energy and a good box-to-box man, although it would be beneficial if his attributes could be harnessed all the better. 6.0/10
Sami Khedira: His tackling was okay, and he seemed to have the measure of Milinkovic-Savic, but he offered little in the final third of the pitch, or at the back. Average. 5.5/10
Miralem Pjanic: Dropped deep to collect the ball and move Juve forward, and while he lacks the midfield cover to truly see his best qualities, his passing was on-point. 6.0/10
Attack
Paulo Dybala: A tough game for him to return to action, considering the way Lazio typically play. His chances were limited, but he grew into the game and continued to press on until the final minute – His goal was a thing of beauty. Receiving the ball, and pushed wider than he would have liked, he contrived to cut back in between two defenders, holding them off and still managing to beat Staroshka while being bundled to the floor. Moments like this can decide titles and Dybala showed his hunger and determination in a crucial moment. Bravo 7.5/10
Mario Mandzukic: Seems to be struggling when playing up front, and that is only to be expected when he’s been playing out on the left for much of the last two seasons. His natural tendency seemed to push him out wide, when he should have been the foil to Dybala. Had a great headed chance early on that should have given Juve the lead. 6.0/10
Substitutes
Douglas Costa: Provided a more direct and potent threat as he ran at the Lazio men. Definitely one of our more effective players. 6.0/10
Alex Sandro: Came on late to provide some more width to the play and press Lazio in the wide areas. 6.0/10
Giorgio Chiellini: Came on late to patch up the defence and see the game out while getting a run out ahead of the Spurs match. N/A
Napoli lost and we collected all three points, a good night. Paulo Dybala came to play a big part to redeem his late penalty miss from the last meeting. I hope he will come to do the same against Atlanta.
Sad to hear about the recent loss of Davide Astori. May he rest in peace.
Definitely more luck than brain. I usually don’t drink alcohol, but I’m waiting to get Allegriego out – then I get drunk unconscious. This can’t be seen, this team lacks everything, starting with the manager.
PS. RIP Astori 🙁
Next summer 4,3,3: Szczęsny; Bellerin, Rugani, Caldara, Sandro; Emre Can, Pjanic, Savic; Dybala, Higuain, Costa. With De Sciglio, Chiellini, Benetia, Bentancur, Matuidi, Benadeschi, Cuadradro and Mandzukic as substitutes we’re fine. Out Lichtsteiner, Barzagli, Khedira and Sturaro.
I know it’s 100 mill for Savic and 35-40 for Bellerin. But with the sale of Sturaro for 15 mill, Juve should be able to afford an 120 mill transfer campaign.
Savic I could understand, though I do feel we will be priced out by clubs with deeper pockets…Bellerin? Pretty good in the offensive phase but far from ideal defensively. i don’t see the point in paying big money for what is essentially a weaker option than Cuadrado…