Juventus took on AS Roma away at the Stadio Olimpico for there 31st match of the Serie A season. As the season comes to its conclusion Juventus focus is on Champions League qualification. Three points would have been huge with fourth place Bologna playing Napoli tomorrow, in a game there not favoured to win.
It looked like Juventus would be able to capitalize even when playing away in Rome, a dominant start lead to a goal by Manuel Locatelli in the 40th minute. His volley from outside the box excited the team as they celebrated together, however it couldn’t be kept going into the second half.
The excitement didn’t run into the second half as Roma managed to score early. In the 49th minute Shomurodov scored, this is because the defence fell asleep after Di Gregorio made the first save. Kalulu especially reacted late to Shomourodov coming through and all he had to do was tap it in.
The rest of the game was fairly even between the two teams, however once again Juventus looked slightly better. Roma looked like they settled for a draw at the end of the game, but Juventus lacked a critical threat at the end.
Player Ratings:
Michele Di Gregorio – 6.5: Di Gregorio had a good game today, he took care of his job and made the right choices once he had the ball in hand. The defence was strong enough to where he didn’t need to do anything incredible.
Pierre Kalulu – 7: I wanted to give him a 7.5 for most of the game today, however he made a couple mistakes that meant I knocked him down to a 7. These errors could have cost Juventus a second goal, because it cost the first at the back post from the corner.
Renato Veiga – 6.5: Renato Veiga looked like a dominant force that kept the other two centre backs in check. He clashed with Dovbyk heavily and he managed to keep him quite and force Roma to attack other ways, job done.
Llyod Kelly – 6: Llyod Kelly was the worst of the three centre backs today, but that isn’t because he was bad, but the other two where very good as well. His on ball ability improved a lot in todays game getting up the left hand side to help the attack when available.
Manuel Locatelli – 6.5: Locatelli wasn’t majorly involved in the build up of the game, but he sat back when needed to allow the centre backs to go forward. When he did get involved in the build up it worked out because he got a goal.
Khepren Thuram – 6.5: Thuram had a slight spark today having his moments of marvel at times, but for the rest of the game he respected the attacking prowess of Roma’s midfield and played modestly for the rest of the game.
Weston Mckennie – 5.5: How good everyone else is meant that today I had to put Mckennie rating down, he wasn’t poor by any extent but he just failed to leave his mark out wide, he could have been bought in for Nico Gonzalez and he would have done well.
Tim Weah – 5.5: This wasn’t one of Weah’s most outstanding’s games, he could have had more of a impact defensively but when going forward he rarely made any mistakes. Him coming off was likely to manage his minutes he didn’t look out of place.
Kenan Yildiz – 7: Yildiz was quietly one of the best players today, his creativeness was used to split Roma’s defence. Juventus just lacked some finishing power today, they weren’t able to make space in the box.
Nico Gonzalez – 4.5: Nico had his moments today, but he still looks like a rusty player. He made a few poor choices trying to be a hero instead of just playing his role and being better at creating as a team instead of as an induvial.
Dusan Vlahovic – 4: Vlahovic just looked lost out there, should have come off at around the 50th minute mark instead of closer to the 70th. The longer this goes on the more likely he and Juventus will split paths.
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