Juventus 3-2 Sampdoria: 3 takeaways as Juve secure second consecutive win

1. Does Dejan Kulusevski have enough to replace La Joya at Juventus?

After the teary departure of Paulo Dybala, Dejan Kulusevski entered the field and played the remainder of the contest. Before we jump to any conclusion and get to know what Kulusevski did on Sunday afternoon, we should take a look at what Dybala did before leaving the field in such an emotional manner.

As per the stats from Whoscored.com, Dybala was on the pitch for 22 minutes. During that time, not only did he score, but also he played three key passes — the most by any player from both sides. Dybala has been a productive instrument for Allegri’s Juventus since the beginning of the season. He has seemingly been involved in almost every attacking thrust.

Following Kulusevski’s introduction, the Swede tried, tried and ended up trying much harder. What result did he get? An assist for the goal netted by Manuel Locatelli was enough to acknowledge his endeavours.

Other than that, he was full of running and finding free spaces behind the defence with not much success in the final third of the field. Kulusevski completed two key passes and one dribble on Sunday afternoon, attempting to emulate the impact of Paulo Dybala on Juventus.

On the bright side, Allegri could now get more defensive work done by the Scandinavian. More astute defensively than Paulo Dybala, the 21-year-old has received a chance, out of the blue, to showcase his traits to Juve’s new manager on the field of play. He has to grab these forthcoming opportunities with open arms.