Juventus vs. SPAL: 3 takeaways from a comprehensive victory
Juventus have advanced to the semifinals of the Coppa Italia where they will get a chance to exact revenge on Inter Milan for their Derby d’Italia loss at the San Siro. The Bianconeri’s 4-0 win over SPAL was an excellent, convincing performance, with the youngsters playing a key role in the “W”.
Let’s take a look at the three biggest takeaways from the match.
Nicolo Fagioli, Gianluca Frabotta play starring roles
Dejan Kulusevski grabbed a goal and Alvaro Morata scored from the spot, but the starting forwards weren’t the main talking points after this win. No, Juventini were spending most of their time praising the surprise performances from midfielder Nicolo Fagioli and left back Gianluca Frabotta.
Let’s start with Frabotta. Andrea Pirlo has used the wide man frequently this season, as he’s become a decent contributor to the Bianconeri. Frabotta’s had a few rough outings, but he showed a lot of promise in this win. His goal was an absolute thunderbolt.
Fagioli came into this game as an unknown, but he put in a very composed performance in midfield, which has generally been a problem spot for Juventus this season. While a good performance against SPAL does not mean Fagioli is ready to play a big role for the Zebras, he is now on the radar as a player to watch. I’d like to see more of him.
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The Juventus defense shines with the new guard
Again, you can’t draw too many conclusions from a match against SPAL, especially since leading goal-scorer Alberto Paloschi was not on the pitch. At the same time, it is noteworthy that Juve kept a clean sheet and never for one moment looked threatened defensively.
Matthijs de Ligt and Merih Demiral were the starting center backs in this victory, and they did not put a foot wrong. Demiral, in particular, had a couple of brilliant moments defensively, holding off forwards or outright shoving them to the ground with a shoulder-to-shoulder tackle.
With all due respect to Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, this is the regular center back duo we need to see in Turin.
Juventus proves they can dominate without Cristiano Ronaldo
While Juventus have won before without Cristiano Ronaldo in the lineup, they never had a truly convincing display without Serie A’s best player in the lineup. In their narrow Round of 16 win over Genoa, they needed Ronaldo, who was supposed to get a day of rest, to enter the match off the bench in extra time to help them push for the victory.
Against SPAL, Pirlo rested Ronaldo completely, which meant Alvaro Morata and Dejan Kulusevski had to deliver up top, with the midfield needing to step up behind them. It’s safe to say everyone raised their game, including Federico Chiesa as a standout off the bench.
Next. Juventus must sign Houssem Aouar. dark
Additional praise should go to Adrien Rabiot in midfield. He isn’t the most consistent player, but the former PSG man had another good day at the office for the Bianconeri with three tackles, 10 duels won, and 93 percent of his passes completed, as per Sofascore.com. That kind of ball-winning is huge for a team in starting dangerous attacks.