Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt reveals what he asked Ruslan Malinovskyi after the Atalanta midfielder’s stunning strike and why he was never concerned at giving away a penalty in Bergamo.
The match ended 1-1 thanks to a last-gasp Danilo header from a corner, but before that a free kick was touched on for Malinovskyi’s screamer into the top corner.
It was De Ligt who brought down Malinovskyi for that free kick and the centre-back admits he thought that was job done.
Serie A | Atalanta 1-1 Juventus: Danilo replies to Malinovskyi scorcher
“I assumed it was impossible for him to score from there! I even asked Malinovskyi after the match, how did you hit that from about 30 metres out and score?! I never thought he’d be able to score from there,” De Ligt told DAZN.
There was also a controversial incident in the first half when De Ligt twice charged down Jeremie Boga efforts, the first he had his arm raised and Atalanta continue to claim it should’ve been a penalty.
“No, I was very calm and relaxed, because I felt the ball hit me on the ribs. I knew from the impact that it wasn’t on my arm, so I was not worried. I am doing my work, which is to defend the goal. It was a very difficult match for us and very entertaining for the fans to watch, as both teams wanted to win and so there were many scoring opportunities.
“I think both sides are disappointed to have dropped two points tonight, but that is football.”
The Bianconeri started Dusan Vlahovic, Paulo Dybala and Alvaro Morata together, a difficult trident for the defence to help sustain.
“I think Vlahovic doesn’t just bring his characteristics to the team, but also allows Paulo more freedom to play much better. They can combine, knock the ball down for each other. Vlahovic scores many goals, but he above all works for the team.”
This stalemate means Juventus have fallen even further behind new Serie A leaders Milan, so is the Scudetto race over for them?
“Honestly, this was a very important match, because we were battling for position with Atalanta. We should take it one game at a time and then see where we end up.”
RUSLAN MALINOVSKYI THUNDERBOLT!! 😱😱
The Ukrainian comes off the bench and produces a moment of magic to open the scoring for Atalanta.
Struck that so cleanly 💥 pic.twitter.com/PSXyxqv1RD
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 13, 2022
with goalkeeper like lord cesni, you don’t have to ask that question.
sportielo is better than 6.5million GK, shocking truth.
sportiello is twenty times better than shezny watch atalanta 1-1 inter for proof