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Hellas Verona 2-1 Juventus: 3 takeaways from another Bianconeri defeat

By Jyotirmoy Halder

VERONA, ITALY - OCTOBER 30: Leonardo Bonucci of Juventus consoles Weston Mckennie of Juventus during the Serie A match between Hellas and Juventus at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi on October 30, 2021 in Verona, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
VERONA, ITALY - OCTOBER 30: Leonardo Bonucci of Juventus consoles Weston Mckennie of Juventus during the Serie A match between Hellas and Juventus at Stadio Marcantonio Bentegodi on October 30, 2021 in Verona, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images) /
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1. Allegri may need to look beyond Giorgio Chiellini

Juventus
Giorgio Chiellini, Juventus (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images) /

After witnessing those two names lining up together, it felt like summer again. The defensive pairing of Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini were crucial in Italy’s success at the delayed Euro 2020. Back in 2018, their outstanding performances in a Champions League game led to Jose Mourino admitting, “Mr Bonucci and Mr Chiellini could give some Harvard University classes about how to be a central defender.”

However, it didn’t work on Saturday. They were bamboozled by the offensive trio of Hellas Verona. Shaky in possession, Giorgio Chiellini lost the ball a disturbing 16 times.

The lack of confidence depicted in the duo’s collective manner of defending seemingly lowered the overall morale of other Juventus players, and it subsequently worsened the scenario for the visitors. Within the first 15 minutes of the game, they got exposed twice, although the goals didn’t come from their defensive howlers.

Caution was raised over Chiellini signing another extension with Juventus last summer, and those fears are moderately coming to fulfilment. According to Fbref.com, Saturday’s game was Chiellini’s sixth start and eighth appearance in Serie A this term.

Allegri must find an answer to whether or not he is putting an enormous amount of strain on the 37-year-old’s aged body by putting faith in him regularly. If the answer is “yes”, then he and Juventus, as a football club, need to look beyond the Italian veteran.

He might not be the only one worthy of blame for Juventus’ defeat against Hellas Verona, as his partner in crime, Bonucci, deserves the fair share of culpability as well.

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