Juventus vs. Ferencvaros Takeaways: Cristiano Ronaldo needs some help

Juventus defeated Ferencvaros 2-1 on Matchday 4 of the Champions League, but the win was far from convincing.

Over the weekend, Juventus produced their best performance of the 2020-2021 Serie A season since Matchday 1, shutting out Cagliari 2-0 at the Allianz Stadium. But on Tuesday night, Juve took a step back against Ferencvaros, despite getting the win.

Juve needed a stupendous equalizer from Cristiano Ronaldo and a last-gasp header from Alvaro Morata to win against one of the weakest sides in the Champions League. Ferencvaros gave Juve problems on the counter, while the Bianconeri looked plodding in possession, just as they did last season under Maurizio Sarri.

Here are three takeaways from the match.

Arthur Melo is good but has room to improve

For the most part, Arthur has been a major positive to Juventus since joining the Bianconeri this summer in a swap deal with Barcelona involving Miralem Pjanic. Over the weekend, I gushed about how well Arthur played, as he was intelligent and composed in controlling the midfield in an easy clean sheet. He was strong defensively and made no mistakes in the attack.

But against Ferencvaros, Arthur was sloppy. He wasted time turning around like Xavi, but instead of making a progressive pass like the legendary midfielder, Arthur would often slow the play down. When he did try to play incisively, Arthur’s passing was woefully inaccurate and would lead to counterattacks. He missed several good runs from Ronaldo and Juan Cuadrado.

This performance is a reminder that Arthur still has room to improve in Turin. He is a very good midfielder with an even brighter future, but he is 24. He is still a work in progress.

Cristiano Ronaldo needs help

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored eight goals in Serie A this season, and he struck in the Champions League this week at just the right time with a screamer into the bottom left corner to beat the keeper with his weak foot from distance. Without that goal, Juve would have dropped points in their own stadium to Ferencvaros.

But throughout the match, Ronaldo was starved of service. He squandered one great chance in the second half, but it was a chance he created for himself, just like the goal.

The midfield needs to do much better at helping Ronaldo. Rodrigo Bentancur, Arthur, Paulo Dybala, Weston McKennie, and Federico Bernardeschi were all below-average in the attack, and they failed to offer Ronaldo sufficient support.

He and Morata can’t carry the team on their own. Ronaldo needs better service.

Matthijs de Ligt is immense

Where do we rank Matthijs de Ligt among the best center backs in the world? That’s the discussion to have this season, because de Ligt has wasted no time shining since his return from injury. Granted, he has been playing against lower-level competition in Cagliari and Ferencvaros, but de Ligt was seriously impressive this week.

De Ligt was never troubled defensively and bailed Juve out several times with key blocks and interceptions. WhoScored.com credited him with three blocked shots, which is just incredible. And that one stat shows you so much about de Ligt’s game. He is always there to put his body on the line to save the team.