Juventus Player Ratings from a tense Coppa Italia win over Inter

Juventus lost to Inter Milan in a Serie A Derby d’Italia fixture a couple of weeks ago, but they avenged that defeat by winning 2-1 at the San Siro on Tuesday night to take an important lead into the second leg.

Here are the player ratings from Juve’s win.

GK Gianluigi Buffon

Although Gianluigi Buffon had a couple of iffy moments on the ball, his leadership was vital in this match. But his biggest contribution was a save from close range on Matteo Darmian to preserve Juve’s 2-1 lead.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

LB Alex Sandro

Alex Sandro had a dreadful match, and he’s very lucky Inter Milan did not score from his mistakes. His booking was a silly foul that he did not need to make. Meanwhile, he added nothing in the attack. It was another disappointing night for the experienced left back.

Rating: 5.0 out of 10

CB Matthijs de Ligt

Although Matthijs de Ligt wasn’t at his sparkling best, he was quite solid for Juventus and was probably the best defender on the ball. He did a great job of making himself available for his teammates and put his body on the line frequently to ensure the Bianconeri left this match as winners. As a whole, this was a quality performance from the former Ajax man.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10

CB Merih Demiral

Merih Demiral had his customary horrible tackle for a yellow card, but, other than that, he was excellent for Juventus. The young Turkish center back’s best moment was a goal-saving clearance off the line to deny Inter, as Rodrigo Bentancur made an embarrassing error in front of his own box. Demiral did so well to run straight toward his own goal and make the tricky block.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

RB Juan Cuadrado

Defensively, Juan Cuadrado was quite good and won his battle with Ashley Young. He even drew a penalty out of Young, though that play was more about Young’s terrible defending than anything good Cuadrado did. To be honest, Cuadrado was very poor offensively. Uncharacteristically so. He had too many inaccurate crosses into no man’s land to count.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10

CM Adrien Rabiot

Adrien Rabiot had a below-average performance. He had one nice tackle to spare Alex Sandro an error following a slip, but that’s about the only positive thing I can say about Rabiot’s performance. He did not help Juve progress the ball, and he was poor in the final third, mostly passing the ball backwards. He and Bentancur do not mesh well together.

Rating: 5.0 out of 10

CM Rodrigo Bentancur

He was the worst player on the pitch for Juventus, and that’s saying something considering forward Dejan Kulusevski was practically invisible. Bentancur nearly lost the match for his team with a terrible giveaway, and he’s done this several times in the 2020-2021 season. Inter’s midfield totally outclassed Bentancur, who looked out of his depth both defensively and offensively. He has been Juve’s worst midfielder this season.

Rating: 4.0 out of 10

LM Weston McKennie

This wasn’t one of Weston McKennie’s best performances, but the work rate and instincts were there. He did a lot of the hard work for Juventus to make sure the team did not break down amidst consistent pressure from the Nerazzurri.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

RM Federico Bernardeschi

Federico Bernardeschi wasn’t that bad in this game. I know that isn’t a ringing endorsement, but, normally, you’d expect him to be a liability against a caliber of opponent like Inter. But Bernardeschi had a couple of useful moments in the attack, including a shot that nearly went in.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10

FW Cristiano Ronaldo

Easily the Man of the Match for Juventus. Once again, Juve would not have won without Ronaldo, who scored both goals in the first half. His first goal was an emphatic penalty. His second took advantage of another Inter mistake, as he closed down center back Alessandro Bastoni and converted with his weaker foot from a tough angle, spinning the ball off the inside post expertly. Ronaldo has become vital to Juventus.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Next. Analyzing Andrea Pirlo's Juventus. dark

FW Dejan Kulusevski

Dejan Kulusevski should have been subbed off in the second half, as he did nothing in this game. If you take his second-half performance against Genoa in the first Coppa Italia game and stretch it across 90 minutes, that’s what we saw here. Kulusevski was a passenger, and when he did get a rare touch, he basically gave the ball to the other team. His movement off the ball was atrocious and prevented the midfielders from executing better counterattacks. There’s still work to do.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

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