Juventus Player Ratings from another embarrassing Champions League exit
Juventus surrendered two goals to Porto with just three of their own and were thus eliminated on away goals despite a 4-4 draw in the overall tie. The Bianconeri are now out of the Champions League after the Round of 16 for a second straight year, and it is time to be bluntly honest about the performances we saw on Tuesday night.
Here are the player ratings.
GK Wojciech Szczesny
Wojciech Szczesny made a couple of good stops early in the match, but the story of his night will be that free kick goal allowed to midfielder Sergio Oliveira. The wall did not do his job, but how on earth did Serie A’s best keeper get beaten from that distance on a low shot?
Rating: 5.0
LB Alex Sandro
Horrible. Absolutely horrible. There are few players who have disappointed me as much over the past year than Alex Sandro, who was once a world-class left back. Now, he is a joke offensively and even inconsistent defensively. He did no marking against Jesus Corona and spent more time bickering than doing anything. Alex Sandro is not good enough in the attack to merit being a starter for Juventus in 2021-2022.
Rating: 4.0
CB Leonardo Bonucci
Not bad a performance from Leonardo Bonucci, who showed the importance of his passing by creating a goal with a ball over the top that Cristiano Ronaldo laid off for Federico Chiesa. But he also had a couple of head-scratching passes to nobody in particular.
Rating: 6.0
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- Leonardo Bonucci may be leaving Juventus soon
CB Merih Demiral
Merih Demiral might as well have sat this one out. Maybe Mehdi Taremi, who was later sent off, made the most of the contact for the penalty, but Demiral is at fault for even giving Taremi a chance to sell any contact. Demiral is his own worst enemy in these situations.
Rating: 5.0
RB Juan Cuadrado
He and Federico Chiesa were by far the best players on the pitch and deserved to go through, when just about none of their teammates played well. Per WhoScored.com, Juan Cuadrado had 12 key passes, six dribbles completed, six tackles, and four fouls drawn. That is an all-time great performance, and it’s a shame the forwards could not get more than one assist from Cuadrado. Not to mention, he hit the crossbar with his left foot on what was a heartbreaking miss.
Rating: 10
LM Aaron Ramsey
Aaron Ramsey switched over to the right-hand side, but it didn’t matter where he was on the pitch. Once again, the experienced attacking midfielder was invisible and a liability. For every good game he has, he has five games like this one where he is a mess. He’s not good enough for Juventus, I’m sorry.
Rating: 4.0
CM Arthur Melo
Arthur was Juve’s best center midfielder yet again. He really should have picked out Weston McKennie when the American was basically through on goal, and that’s something the Brazilian must work on. He must become more incisisve. But when it comes to ball security and controlling the game, Arthur is great. Juve needed him back, and he was an asset in this one.
Rating: 6.5
CM Adrien Rabiot
The stats will have Adrien Rabiot credited with a goal, but he was poor in this game. He was below his usual standard defensively and as uncreative with his passing as ever. Rabiot is in the Ramsey bracket as a player who just isn’t good enough to start for Juventus if they aim on doing better than yearly Round of 16 exits. Despite his goal, he had a couple of selfish shots that were infuriating to watch.
Rating: 5.0
RM Federico Chiesa
The best player on the pitch for Juventus, even above Juan Cuadrado. In any other game, Federico Chiesa would have been the Man of the Match. He had two goals, and he was unlucky not to have a hat trick on the winning side. Chiesa is a special, special player.
Rating: 10
FW Cristiano Ronaldo
Dreadful. You could see that Cristiano Ronaldo badly wanted it and was doing his best, but his best was not good enough on this day. Nothing seemed to work for Ronaldo, whose game can be summed up by the fact that he was the man responsible for the ball sliding past him on the free kick. Ronaldo had an assist on the stat sheet, but, really, he offered very little to Juve. My prediction on him aged very poorly.
Rating: 4.0
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FW Alvaro Morata
Alvaro Morata was so vital to Juve’s win over Lazio with Ronaldo getting rest, but he was one of the worst players on the pitch for the Bianconeri vs. Porto. He made so many inaccurate passes and his movement off the ball was active but brainless. Morata’s job is to link-up play, but he so often just broke up the play.
Rating: 4.5