First Team Match Report: JUVE-CROTONE

After three winless matches, Ronaldo and McKennie’s goals finally put Juventus back on track with a 3-0 win against Crotone at the Allianz Stadium. As of now, Juventus are in third place behind Inter and Milan on the Serie A table.

4-4-2

#77- Buffon

#13- Danilo

#28- Demiral

#4- De Ligt

#12- Alex Sandro

#22- Chiesa

#30- Bentancur

#8- Ramsey

#14- McKennie

#44- Kulusevski

#7- Ronaldo

It took a while for the Bianconeri to find their pace, as Crotone found quite a few chances to attack in the first 30 minutes. Juve were able to eventually take the lead. McKennie passes to Sandro outside of the box, and the latter crosses the ball in front of the goal. It was none other than Ronaldo to perfectly time his run to score a header, bringing the Bianconeri in front. After a long VAR check, the goal stands, and Juve lead 1-0.

Just six minutes later in added time of the first half, CR7 Airlines makes it 2-0. After the opponent goalkeeper blocked a shot, the ball remained inside the pitch, and Ramsey gets to the end of it. He sends a cross from the edge of the box, and Ronaldo leaps up seemingly effortlessly to score his second header of the match. Ronaldo nearly makes it a hat-trick right before the end of the first half, but the shot goes slightly wide.

The Bianconeri continued in the second half to try and increase their advantage. Juve’s third goal comes from a corner set-piece, and McKennie is the one to add a goal under his name. Chiesa curls a corner into the box, the ball takes a couple of deflections and eventually falls to the American youngster. He takes a touch w his chest, then smashes the ball in with a powerful shot. 3-0.

In the 70th minute, Pirlo makes his first substitution, taking off Bentancur for Fagioli. The 20-year-old Italian makes his debut for Juventus in Serie A. The likes of Morata, Bernardeschi, Frabotta, and Di Pardo are subbed on later as well and the match ends 3-0.

Pirlo:

“We made a nervous start, possibly because of recent matches, but our two goals calmed us down and we were then able to manage the game well. It certainly wasn’t our best start: our passing was sloppy, partly due to rushing and partly due to our desire to score an early goal. In any case, it was important to get the three points this evening.”

Buffon:

“We needed a win, but it wasn’t easy. We found it tough in the first half an hour, but what matters is staying fully focused for the full 90 minutes. The fact that Inter are ahead of us isn’t a surprise; maybe the surprise is the fact that they hadn’t shown what they’re capable of until now.”

With about 15 matches left in the season, the title race seems to be getting tougher. This game was an absolute must-win to keep up with Inter and Milan on the top of the table. After the Milan derby on Sunday, it was easy to see why Inter lead the table with 53 points at the moment. If Juve want to remain as title contenders, it is absolutely crucial that no points are dropped against the mid-table or bottom teams. However, with numerous injuries on key players such as Chiellini, Bonucci, Cuadrado, Dybala, and Arthur, it will not be easy. For this match against Crotone, the performance in the first 30 minutes was truly mediocre. The team had no flow and gave away too many chances to a team that currently ranks last in Serie A. As confidence grew thanks to Ronaldo’s goals, Juve found their steadiness. Chiesa was the most important player on the pitch, acting as a creative driving force for the team, which is so often what Juve is missing these days. Fagioli was also quite impressive considering his young age and prior experience in Serie C. He seemed like a solid player who has the vision needed to be an effective midfielder. Ronaldo once again proved his elitism, it seems that he scores his headers with such ease. In all, not a bad performance from Juve but nothing special either. To remain in contention for the Champions League as well as the Italian Championship, the team must hold on until the injured players return.

MOTM: Chiesa