Old Juve
Fansided

Inter 1-1 Juventus: 3 key takeaways from an intense Derby d’Italia

By Jyotirmoy Halder

MILAN, ITALY - OCTOBER 24: Paulo Dybala of Juventus celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and Juventus at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on October 24, 2021 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/CPS Images/Getty Images)
MILAN, ITALY - OCTOBER 24: Paulo Dybala of Juventus celebrates after scoring his team's first goal during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and Juventus at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on October 24, 2021 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Emmanuele Ciancaglini/CPS Images/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next

2. The partnership of La Joya and Federico Chiesa is going to be special

Federico Chiesa had an unknowingly superb Derby d’Italia (Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/Getty Images)
Federico Chiesa had an unknowingly superb Derby d’Italia (Photo by Giuseppe Cottini/Getty Images) /

“What is Dejan Kulusevski doing here?”, “why is there no Federico Chiesa?”. Those were some of the questions asked by a multitude of Juventus enthusiasts after the revelation of the starting XI on Sunday night.

While the answer to the first question was easily predictable, the answer to the second came in the press conference conducted by the Juventus manager at the end of the Derby d’Italia.

Kulusevski was the match-winner against Zenit in the midweek and had been looking for a start. Ignoring the magnitude and importance of the game against Inter, Allegri chose to go with the Swede. Later, he justified his selection by saying (as quoted by @BianconeriZone Twitter), ” It could have been more physical at the start, I needed Kulusevski to press Brozovic.”

It was visible that Kulusevski was fielded to carry out a certain task, with the Sweden international playing behind the central forward in Alvaro Morata. While his success rate in keeping hold of Brozovic is arguable, Kulusevski was highly ineffective in impacting the game with his offensive demeanour.

On the back of an offensively-toothless performance from the Swede, the introductions of Federico Chiesa and Paulo Dybala helped Juve change the dynamics of the game in the second half.

While Chiesa replaced Juan Cuadrado on the right wing, Paulo Dybala, having returned from injury for the first time since the 3-2 win over Sampdoria last September, earned the license to roam freely across the pitch in a bid to produce the moment of brilliance for the Bianconeri. Before the entry of Chiesa and Dybala, there was no creativity. But the same could not be said after those two took the field.

“Then [in the second half] they [the intensity of the Inter players] dropped and Dybala came in, Chiesa on the right, then Kaio Jorge and Arthur, the team had improved condition and confidence,” added Allegri while discussing the omission of Federico Chiesa from Juve’s starting XI on Sunday night.

Despite playing for only 25 minutes, Paulo Dybala and Federico Chiesa appeared to be two of the most influential players for Juventus at the San Siro. Fans believe that an element of understanding is brewing between the Italian and the diminutive Argentinian, which could prove to be fruitful for the club in near future.

Home/Juventus News