Juventus: 3 takeaways from a professional win over Cagliari

Juventus defeated Cagliari 2-0 at home on Saturday. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the victory.

The Bianconeri were lifted by Cristiano Ronaldo in front of goal again, as the star man scored twice for Juventus in a 2-0 win over Cagliari. He was the main man for the attack, but he wasn’t the only top performer for Juve. The defense played well, and the midfield did a nice job of controlling the game with the fulcrum of Adrien Rabiot and Arthur Melo.

Here are three takeaways from the victory.

Merih Demiral has made his case to start

There were a few impressive defensive performances for Juventus in this clean sheet win, but nobody stood out more than Merih Demiral.

For the most part, the 22-year-old has been excellent this season, and he was arguably the best player in the match behind Ronaldo in this win.

Demiral worked hard to shift into a defensive position behind Juan Cuadrado, allowing the Colombian to play as a wing back so that Dejan Kulusevski could also drift inside into a more favored attacking role.

He pushed up the pitch when needed, but, mostly, Demiral was a calming influence on the ball. Demiral was never troubled defensively and was sensational against Cagliari’s best player, forward Joao Pedro.

He completed about 99 percent of his passes, per WhoScored.com. An A+ performance from Demiral, who has shown that he’s earned a chance to be a regular starter at center back for the Bianconeri. I would take him over Leonardo Bonucci.

Federico Bernardeschi shows signs of value

Since the start of the 2019-2020 season, Federico Bernardeschi has been Juve’s least effective player. He has frustrated fans with sloppy giveaways to start counterattacks for the opposition, lazy offsides, and missed chances galore.

After impressing with the Azzurri yet again, Andrea Pirlo decided to give Bernardeschi a start as the left midfielder against Cagliari. And Bernardeschi rewarded his manager’s faith with a solid performance, as he was an Alvaro Morata foot away from scoring.

Bernardeschi recorded four dribbles completed, three key passes, and three tackles. He was one of the better players on the pitch for Juventus, playing a workhorse role for the Bianconeri in a professional home victory.

Juventini need to see more of this from Bernardeschi. He is capable of so much more in Serie A and can still make it happen in Turin. But it seems like he’s done this before. That is to say, he’s had solid games amidst harsh criticism, only to struggle again. We will know more about Bernardeschi’s value to the team in how he follows this up, but he was encouraging vs. Cagliari.

Arthur Melo is a midfield metronome

Adrien Rabiot has taken the most headlines in Turin’s midfield this season, and he was decent enough against Cagliari, making five tackles for the Black and Whites in the win.

But the real show-stealer was Arthur Melo, who led the team in passes attempted with nearly 95 percent of those attempts being completions. The Brazilian defensive midfielder has looked good from the moment he stepped on the pitch for the Bianconeri at Roma, and he keeps getting better and better.

Arthur gives Juventus a lot of stability with his calm dribbling and accurate passing. I can scarcely think of times when he’s lost the ball or made a bad giveaway. He is cool personified for Juve, and they have needed that bit of class in the middle of the pitch. Arthur looks like someone Pirlo and the rest of the team can really lean on this season.