It was a crazy night in the Italian capital. Roma and Juventus traded blows in the first half, but just when the hosts appeared to be running away with the match, the Old Lady staged a stunning come-from-behind win.

However, the thrilling comeback wouldn’t have been possible without some tweaking from the man in the stands.

Max Allegri was serving his one-match ban, but the the tactician was anything but absent. In fact, this may have been his best second half display since his summer return.

Just like the rest of the world, the Livorno native noticed that Rodrigo Bentancur wasn’t offering much on the pitch (to say it politely), so he decided to revamp the middle of the park by introducing Arthur.

The Brazilian put on a decent if not spectacular performance. But that’s not exactly why this substitution paid dividends.

With the former Barcelona man on the pitch, Manuel Locatelli was discharged from his Regista duties.

The Italian was given a license to roam as a box-to-box midfielder, and that is exactly the position that fits him the most – as Roberto Mancini would be willing to testify.

With Locatelli surging forward to support the attacks, Juventus gained a midfielder who can actually contribute in the goals (imagine that!)

Now surely we have to be particularly thankful for Dejan Kulusevksi’s equalizer, Mattia De Sciglio’s winner (an awkward expression in itself) and Wojciech Szczesny’s spot kick heroics, but it all started with Locatelli making the smart run and rising high to meet a sublime cross from Alvaro Morata (yet another man we have to thank).

At the end of the day, Allegri went back home with all three points, but perhaps more importantly, with a clear vision on how his midfield should look like.

Weston McKennie is fine where he is, but Locatelli can become much more devastating if deployed in a more advanced position.

Whether Arthur can ever prove to be a player worthy of Juventus remains to be seen, but until a better option emerges, he should be considered Loca’s most suitable partner, as he allows the latter to play in his preferred playing position.

And after all, he can’t possibly be any worse than the current versions of Bentancur and Rabiot.