The final international break of the season brought a premature end to club football in March.
For Juventus, it was another month in which their impressive domestic form perpetuated as they extended their unbeaten run in Serie A to 16 games and pipped Fiorentina to a first-leg advantage in their Coppa Italia semi-final tie. However, their Champions League exit at the hands of Unai Emery’s Villarreal cast a dark cloud over their recent domestic success.
With only five games making up Juve’s March schedule, players had to start three games to qualify for Old Juve’s Player of the Month award and, if we’re being honest, it wasn’t exactly the highest-quality month of Bianconeri football.
Old Juve’s Juventus Player of the Month – March 2022
So, will Matthijs de Ligt relinquish his crown or will the Dutchman be usurped? Let’s take a look!
3. Manuel Locatelli, Juan Cuadrado & Luca Pellegrini (Average Rating – 6.25)
We’ve got a three-way split for third place! Manuel Locatelli, Juan Cuadrado and Luca Pellegrini all squeeze onto the podium with a respectable 6.25 average rating.
Pellegrini made the most of Mattia De Sciglio and Alex Sandro’s absences as he started four games in March. A 7.5 rating against Salernitana boosted what was otherwise a pretty indifferent month for the spritely left-back, however.
Cuadrado, meanwhile, has continued to be serviceable down the right as he picked up a knack for assisting own goals, which he accomplished against both Fiorentina and Sampdoria. The Colombian started all but one of Juve’s March encounters.
Similarly, Locatelli missed just one game after testing positive for COVID-19 in the aftermath of the Villarreal defeat. It was an up and down month for the midfielder, who performed brilliantly against Spezia and Sampdoria in an advanced midfield position, but forgettably in the Fiorentina win and Villarreal loss.