Juventus vs. Benevento: 3 keys to victory on Matchday 28
Juventus will take on Benevento in their upcoming Serie A match, hoping to make it three straight wins in the league. Last weekend, they bounced back from their elimination to Porto by defeating Cagliari 3-1 after Cristiano Ronaldo’s rapid-fire hat trick. But they were not quite as brilliant in the second half, so they must not take anything for granted this Sunday.
Benevento sit 16th in the table and are four points above the relegation zone, with Cagliari sitting in 18th. But despite their struggles, Benevento can be dangerous, as Juve saw earlier this season when they drew them 1-1 on the road without Ronaldo available.
Let’s take a look at three keys to victory for Juventus this weekend in order to avoid another upset to the Serie A newcomers.
Don’t get caught on the counter
Benevento have fewer than 45 percent of the possession in the league this season, and they mostly rely on quick attacks to score. They like to hoof the ball up the pitch to Gianluca Lapadula up the pitch, who holds the ball up with his skill and feeds Gianluca Caprari, who leads the team with nine goal contributions.
Caprari and Lapadula are not afraid to take their shots. Neither are Roberto Insigne nor Adolfo Gaich, with the latter loan acquisition becoming a real X-Factor for this Benevento attack.
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Juventus have a great defense, but sometimes they can be their own worst enemy at the back. The midfield cannot make basic positional errors or giveaways, and the back four must be vigilant in keeping an eye on the runs from Caprari.
The midfield double pivot’s build-up play
Juventus are expected to start Adrien Rabiot and Arthur Melo in the middle of the park, per Sky Sport Italia. By my estimation, that is Juve’s best full-time center midfield duo in the 4-4-2, and they will be trusted to control the play against a Benevento side that can be leaky defensively. Only Parma and the notoriously atrocious Crotone defense are more porous this season in terms of total goals allowed.
The big criticism of Rabiot this season has been his progressive passing. He’s good defensively and can score the occasional great goal, as against Lazio, but his passing is unimaginative. That has always been his issue, including at PSG.
Arthur, meanwhile, is very classy on the ball and has the potential to make great passes. But as we saw against Porto, for example, he can frustratingly fail to pull the trigger on an obvious key pass. Together, Rabiot and Arthur must take advantage of what Benevento give them, but, above all else, they must ably control the midfield against Filippo Inzaghi’s side.
Feed Cristiano Ronaldo chances
Cristiano Ronaldo is in the mood to win another Scudetto. This man is obsessed with winning at all costs, and you know he was ticked off at the way his team were bounced out of the Round of 16 again. And he showed it, by taking it upon himself to score a hat-trick in just about a half-hour in a stadium he previously had not scored in.
Next. Juventus vs. Benevento: 5 key players to watch. dark
Benevento have not faced Ronaldo yet this season, and he knows that by torching this team defensively, he can provide yet another example of how much better Juventus are with him than without him. That matters, given the speculation around his future, even if much of that speculation seems to be unfounded.
Juventus must give him the rock and use Alvaro Morata, especially, to help create space for Ronaldo, as they have done all season.