Juventus: 3 keys to victory against Bologna in the final match of the season

Juventus must own the wide areas

Bologna have some talented attacking players, such as Musa Barrow with eight goals and eight assists and Serie A veterans Riccardo Orsolini and Rodrigo Palacio. But if there is a glaring weakness in this team, then it is their ability to defend wide areas, especially in one-on-ones. Ibrahima Mbaye and Lorenzo De Silvestri don’t seem to stand a chance on Sunday night.

That’s because Juve have two of the best wide players in Serie A in breakout star Federico Chiesa and assist-machine Juan Cuadrado. Dejan Kulusevski was the hero in the Coppa Italia Final, but Chiesa also scored in that match, putting away the decisive 2-1 goal.

But in the game before that, Cuadrado was the star man, scoring a belter from just outside the box and then winning the match late with a penalty he won. Cuadrado has been class this season with 10 assists in Serie A, in addition to that vital brace in a Derby d’Italia win to keep Juve’s top-four hopes alive.

Cuadrado and Chiesa are so skilled and consistent down the wings. They can assist, get into the box, carry the ball, defend, and cause all sorts of issues one-v-one. Bologna’s wide defenders are going to struggle to contain them, and if they need extra help, that opens up the middle of the field for players like Adrien Rabiot and Kulusevski to operate. Controlling the wide areas and riding Cuadrado’s and Chiesa’s individual talent could be where Juve win this game handily.