Juventus‘ hopes of securing a Champions League spot for next season took a huge blow as the Bianconeri were convincingly beaten 3-0 by fellow top-four chasers AC Milan.
The dazzling Brahim Diaz opened the scoring with a peach of a strike just before half-time as the hosts struggled to discover any sort of harmony and fluency in attack.
Juve briefly improved after the restart but it was Milan who had the best chance to double their advantage. Franck Kessie’s penalty, however, was saved. The Ivorian’s miss was rendered frivolous by Ante Rebic soon after as the Croatian picked out Wojciech Szczesny’s top left-hand corner to perfection.
Milan’s wonderful evening was capped off by the stellar Fikayo Tomori bullying Giorgio Chiellini in the air and burying his header beyond the Pole between the sticks.
Here are the Juventus player ratings from the costly 3-0 defeat.
GK – Wojciech Szczesny
Szczesny was a bystander until his flap at Hakan Calhanoglu’s harmless free-kick culminated in Diaz’s gorgeous opener.
His penalty save from Kessie had the potential to be a turning point in the contest but instead, a helpless Szczesny would see both Rebic and Tomori breach his goal.
Rating: 4/10
RB – Juan Cuadrado
A sub-par showing from the consistent Colombian. Pirlo’s return to asymmetry handed him the licence to function as an auxiliary winger but Milan’s imperious centre-back pairing were well-equipped for Cuadrado’s crossing barrage.
Rating: 5.5/10
CB – Matthijs de Ligt
The Dutchman led the Juve side in tackles (three) and was hardly a primary factor in the Bianconeri’s incompetence. De Ligt was occasionally outfoxed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic but admirably held his own for the majority. A foundation layer for the future, no doubt.
Rating: 6/10
CB – Giorgio Chiellini
You could say that Chiellini came out on top in the ‘Battle of the Veterans’ with Ibrahimovic but, in reality, the Swede’s forced departure actually spurred a new lease of life in the fading Rossoneri.
Overall, this wasn’t the Italian’s finest hour as he was booked and also gave away the albeit saved spot-kick.
Rating: 4/10
LB – Alex Sandro
Sandro’s intervention from Theo Hernandez’s fierce cross destined for the forehead of Ibrahimovic was outstanding. Otherwise, it was a pretty indifferent display from the full-back. His inverted function appeared trivial, while surges into Milan’s third came few and far between.
Rating: 5/10
RM – Weston McKennie
McKennie performed the flexible function in this one: protecting the half-space as a right midfielder out of possession, while drifting between the lines when Juve had the ball.
A compact Milan restricted his space to roam and receive possession though, and he was moved into the pivot following Bentancur’s withdrawal.
Rating: 4.5/10
CM – Rodrigo Bentancur
This was your archetypal Rodrigo Bentancur 2020/21 performance. Athletic, industrious, anticipatory but distinctly bereft of quality in possession.
The pass – under no pressure – into the stands as he attempted a simple switch out to the right shortly before his substitution neatly depicted his woes in this regard.
Rating: 5/10
CM – Adrien Rabiot
The Frenchman fared slightly better than his midfield counterpart in this one. Rabiot performed a more advanced function in Juve’s build-up and looked to run beyond the Milan defence with his characteristic surges in the left half-space. Such surges, though, were rare.
Nevertheless, Rabiot was far from disastrous amid a shoddy collective display. Efficient but unspectacular.
Rating: 5.5/10
LM – Federico Chiesa
Rusty. After a brief spell on the sidelines, Juve’s emerging superstar endured an untimely quiet outing on Sunday night.
The Italian teased his magic but cut a frustrated figure for the most part.
Rating: 4/10
ST – Cristiano Ronaldo
There were no late heroics to paper over a miserable individual (and collective) display on this occasion as Ronaldo embarked on a pitiful performance in Turin.
He was prominent between the lines but lacked the technical security and subtleness to combine with teammates and retain possession in the face of Rossoneri pressure. It was a display replete in error, although the Portuguese was proficient in blaming others for his own ineptitude.
Just dreadful. One of his worst showings in Bianconeri colours.
Rating: 2/10
ST – Alvaro Morata
The Spaniard’s role subtly changed tonight. Instead of withdrawing from the front line to work between the lines, Morata was tasked as the primary penetrator persistently looking to run the channels.
However, barring his tidy flick to set up Bentancur’s effort early in the second period, Morata failed to make any impact whatsoever. The forward completed a mere 56.3% of his passes amid an error-ridden showing.
Rating: 3.5/10