Juventus saw their fading Scudetto all but extinguish on Sunday afternoon as they fell to a shock 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Benevento.
The hosts started poorly and although there was an improvement towards the end of the first-half, Lorenzo Montipo was rarely tested between the sticks. Then, disaster struck midway through the second period as Adolfo Gaich capitalised on an errant Arthur Melo pass to had Pippo Inzaghi’s relegation-scrappers the lead.
The Bianconeri huffed and puffed in the closing stages but failed to find an equaliser.
Here are the Juve player ratings from the defeat.
GK – Wojciech Szczesny
The Juve shot-stopper had little to do despite Benevento’s brightness throughout. There was nothing he could do to prevent Gaich’s strike from hitting the back of the net. Perhaps he was a little nervy with the ball at his feet in the face of Benevento pressure in the opening period.
Rating: 5/10
RB – Danilo
Danilo reverted to his usual full-back position after exploring the world of the double pivot in his last two Serie A outings. As Pirlo ditched the asymmetrical structure which has been a feature of Juve’s play this term, Danilo performed a more traditional full-back function throughout. The Brazilian, however, was rarely tested defensively and although he showed off his capacity to make both under and overlapping runs in the final third, contributed little offensively.
Rating: 5.5/10
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CB – Leonardo Bonucci
A tricky outing for the Bianconeri skipper, who appeared flustered at times matched-up against the pesky Gianluca Lapadula. Lapadula’s shrewd movement and burst of pace caused Bonucci issues in the opening period, with the Italian skipper often a culprit of getting too tight to his man.
Rating: 5/10
CB – Matthijs de Ligt
A fairly uneventful outing for the Dutchman, who had a greater say in Benevento’s third than his own. De Ligt tested Lorenzo Montipo with a stooping header in the first half and certainly produced the cleaner performance of Juve’s two centre-halves.
Rating: 6/10
LB – Federico Bernardeschi
After enjoying a bright start to life as a full-back, this felt like a return to the norm. Defensively, Bernardeschi connoted a figure who was playing out of position and with the ball, well, it was abhorrent at times. The Italian’s technique totally escaped him for the most part, with unforced errors infuriatingly frequent. He lost possession 14 times in the first-half alone. While there were improvements as the game progressed, Bernardeschi failed to make the most of some promising situations down the left.
Rating: 4/10
RM – Dejan Kulusevski
There were glimpses of magic, but mere glimpses. Otherwise, Kulusevski produced yet another display drenched in indecision and devoid of any assertion. The Swede was tasked with holding the width – predominantly down the right – but struggled to create anything for the majority of the contest as Juve, once again, failed to create any superiorities/overloads in wide areas. He, too, also spurned a couple of dangerous openings in the latter stages of the bout through poor decision-making.
Rating: 4.5/10
CM – Arthur Melo
A total lapse of concentration undermined what was otherwise a typically efficient performance. It was Arthur’s fateful ball across his own box which culminated in Gaich’s winner. That act proved the midfielder’s last of proceedings. Before, Arthur had displayed impressive defensive robustness and distinct control with possession. He desperately needs a superior ball-progressor alongside him, however.
Rating: 5.5/10
CM – Adrien Rabiot
I wonder what Rabiot was actually doing for the 73 minutes he spent on the Allianz Stadium turf? Because there certainly wasn’t much football going on. This was another example of the game drifting effortlessly past the lumbering Frenchman, who contributed a whole lot to Juve’s tepidness.
Rating: 4/10
LM – Federico Chiesa
Juve’s hero as of late failed to provide the goods on this occasion. Although, you certainly can’t fault his effort. The Italian starlet tried his utmost to penetrate a stern Benevento block via swift bursts in behind or sequences of silk in one-v-one situations, but it just wasn’t his day. He may well have had a good case for earning Juve a penalty late on as well.
Rating: 6/10
ST – Cristiano Ronaldo
Like Chiesa, you can’t fault Ronaldo’s efforts to bring Juve back into the contest. Throughout the bout he drifted all over the field, rotating with both wide players in a bid to receive possession, and as Benevento’s block sunk deeper after the restart, he began to receive the ball deeper. However, he struggled to connect and combine with his teammates and cut a distinctly frustrated figure following the final whistle. Oh, and he still can’t take free-kicks.
Rating: 6/10
ST – Alvaro Morata
This felt like the Chelsea iteration of Morata, although he was bereft of much service in this one. Nevertheless, the Spaniard wasted a pair of fine opportunities in the opening period to get himself on the scoresheet. Overall: a pretty forgettable showing.
Rating: 5/10