Italian sports papers praise Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt who ‘outplayed’ Fiorentina star striker Dusan Vlahovic.
The Dutch centre-back was among Juventus’ best players against Fiorentina yesterday.
The Bianconeri collected all three points thanks to a late Juan Cuadrado winner, but De Ligt played a key role in Juventus’ victory with a solid performance.
He had been tasked with the job of man-marking Dusan Vlahovic, the third most prolific striker in Europe’s top 5 leagues in 2021.
Vlahovic had scored a hat-trick against Spezia a week earlier, but De Ligt managed to nullify the 21-year-old, forcing him to play with his back to the goal.
De Ligt was rated 7/10 by Italian sports papers. The highest rating for a Juventus player along with Juan Cuadrado and Federico Chiesa.
La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote De Ligt ‘often outplayed’ Vlahovic.
“I like to play against strikers like Vlahovic,” De Ligt told DAZN.
“He has scored many goals in the league and it was a great challenge for me. However, you also need help from the team when you face a player like him.”
The Serbian striker, who is being linked with a move to Juventus, got very different ratings from Italian papers.
La Gazzetta dello Sport rated him 5, Tuttosport 6.5 and Il Corriere dello Sport 5.5.
not worth 70m is he?
@martinn.. but he scored a hat trick in the last match