On Monday, Juventus will be eager to exert their revenge on Sassuolo who pulled off a last-gasp dramatic victory at the Allianz Stadium earlier this season.
Since then, Max Allegri’s men succeeded in eliminating the Emilians from the Coppa Italia Quarter Finals, but their vengeance remains incomplete without a league victory.
More importantly, the Bianconeri need to collect all three points in order to ward off the competition for a Champions League spot.
So here are three ways to victory for Juventus in the away trip to Sassuolo.
Maintaining Possession
Last Wednesday, the Old Lady advanced to the Coppa Italia final at the expense of Fiorentina on the back of a cerebral display. Allegri’s men left the initiative for the Tuscans and harassed them through counter attacks.
While this approach worked perfectly against the Viola, it could bear a different result if applied against the Neroverdi.
After all, Sassuolo is a squad filled with ballers. Gianluca Scamacca can do the damage inside the box, while the likes of Domenico Berardi, Giacomo Raspadori and Hamed Traorè can create play even in tight spaces.
Juventus would be better off depriving their opponents from the ball and take the play towards the Emilians’ areas and find the cracks within their defensive lines.
Squad Rotation
Luckily for Juventus, the scheduling allowed the players an extra day of rest. However, the physically-demanding battle against Fiorentina surely took its toll on the squad.
Therefore, the likes of Alex Sandro, Leonardo Bonucci and perhaps even Federico Bernardeschi should be granted some rest in favor of fresh legs (Juan Cuadrado, Luca Pellegrini, Giorgio Chiellini…).
Unfortunately for Adrien Rabiot and Denis Zakaria, the midfield injury crisis will force them to work extra hours.
Unleashing La Vespa
Despite his age, Cuadrado remains one the key figures that can decide the encounter on any given day.
If the Colombian plays as an advanced winger, he’ll likely be up against Georgios Kyriakopoulos who plays as left-back for Sassuolo.
While the Greek is excellent at going forward, he’s the type of fullbacks that La Vespa enjoys playing against.
If we can put Cuadrado in one-on-one situations against Kyriakopoulos, he’ll probably be able to skip past him on a few occasions with his sublime dribbling and storm into the penalty box before providing assists for his teammates.
Keep an eye on this duel.
