Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku struggled against Juventus on Wednesday night and the Italian sports pages praised the Old Lady’s defensive performance against the reigning champions.
Lukaku joined Chelsea from Inter this summer and returned to Italy for the second round in the group stage of the Champions League.
The former Nerazzurro, however, found it difficult against his old rivals in Turin and Il Corriere dello Sport claims the Belgian striker was the worst on the pitch.
Champions League | Juventus 1-0 Chelsea: Chiesa sings the Blues
“The previous struggles to score against Juventus were confirmed,” the newspaper writes. “In the second half he wastes a great opportunity.”
The Corriere dello Sport highlights Juventus goalscorer Federico Chiesa as the MVP of the night giving him eight out of 10.
“He was the biggest threat for the Blues,” the newspaper writes. “When he accelerates it’s difficult to stop him. And then there’s the goal…”
La Gazzetta dello Sport agrees with the paper from the Italian capital, as the pink pages claims Chiesa is a ‘Ferrari’ and is always ‘one-on-one’.
“He scores, presses, counter attacks Antonio Rüdiger and all the other guards of the queen. What a player,” La Gazzetta dello Sport writes.
Lukaku, however, is ‘a prisoner like has happened before against Juve’ and claims the performance of the former Inter star was poor.
All three newspapers, including Tuttosport, praised the defensive performance and Max Allegri’s tactics against the Blues, with Leonardo Bonucci and Matthijs de Ligt hailed by Il Corriere dello Sport.
De Ligt ‘showed Ajax form’ and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho was a shadow of himself, according to the paper.
Lukaku’s ratings in the Italian sports pages:
La Gazzetta dello Sport: 5.5
Il Corriere dello Sport: 4.5
Tuttosport: 5
Federico Chiesa’s ratings in the Italian sports pages:
La Gazzetta dello Sport: 8.5
Il Corriere dello Sport: 8
Tuttosport: 8
Jorginho’s ratings int he Italian sports pages:
La Gazzetta dello Sport:
Il Corriere dello Sport: 6
Tuttosport: 6
Matthijs de Ligt’s ratings int he Italian sports pages:
La Gazzetta dello Sport: 7.5
Il Corriere dello Sport: 8
Tuttosport: 7
Lukaku would not have been as quiet if it wasn’t for the near perfect game from Bonucci in my opinion, sure you need to score goals to win games but that is relatively easy to do compared to stopping Lukaku for 95 minutes. Chiesa deserved man of the match but Bonucci surely a close 2nd. Very promising from Juve in terms of defensive solidity. Now if only they can be as motivated as this in Serie A, then everyone at the top surely has to start looking behind them to see the Old Lady back on her train, heading for the summit.
never saw bonucci play like this before without chiellini on his side. Well de ligt future is bright with them as his mentor.
Inexcusable results as far as the north London squad is concerned