After suffering one of their harshest defeats at the hands of Sassuolo earlier this season, Juventus returned the favor by beating the Emilians on their home turf with a late strike from Moise Kean.
The Neroverdi dominated the action in the first half before taking a deserved lead through Giacomo Raspadori, but Paulo Dybala responded with a vicious strike just before the halftime whistle.
In the second period, the action became increasingly slower on the slippery turf, but while the two sides appeared to have settled for a draw, Kean played the super-sub role by delivering the timely winner.
So here are our three takeaways from the Bianconeri’s narrow win at the Mapei Stadium.
Unjustified Presence
In a previous opinion article, we argued that Luca Pellegrini should be the favorite to start at left-back in the final stretch of the season.
But instead, Max Allegri opted to start Alex Sandro for the second time in five days. The Brazilian once again looked slow, uninspiring and barely attempted to help in attack (even though he somehow got an assist to his name).
Perhaps there is a reason behind Pellegrini’s vanishing on Monday, but as far as we can tell, Sandro’s recurring presence on the pitch is no longer justified.
The Irreplaceable
Before the match, we expected Juan Cuadrado to play a major role in the meeting against Sassuolo and exploit their defensively suspect left-flank. However, Juventus were dealt with a blow as the Colombian sustained a knock that kept him out of action.
In his absence, Juventus looked slow, sloppy and predictable, with no other player able to beat his marker and create openings the way La Vespa does.
Let’s hope he gets back to the pitch as soon as possible.
Allegri’s Way
Due to the outcome of the reverse fixture, Allegri decided to play it safe this time. With his chasers all crumbling to defeat this weekend, even a draw would have been a decent result.
With the Emilians dominated possession, Allegri decided to revert to a three-man defense and even introduced his trusted captain Giorgio Chiellini to lead the resistance.
This time, lady luck decided to smile on the Livorno native by giving him more than he sought, as Kean ended up snatching all three points for the Bianconeri.
So while most of us tend to berate Allegri’s unprogressive tactics, sometimes he ends up being right with his cautious approach.
