Juventus took a first leg lead against Atalanta in the Coppa Italia, and Football Italia assesses the efforts of the Bianconeri.
Words: Ciro Di Brita @Ciruzzo36
Gianluigi Buffon – 8
The 40-year-old keeper made his comeback after missing the most of the last few months through injury and came up big by saving the penalty by Papu Gomez.
Kept his side ahead again when he pulled off a big save at the end of the game.
Mattia Di Sciglio – 6
Juventus took a first leg lead against Atalanta in the Coppa Italia, and Football Italia assesses the efforts of the Bianconeri.
Words: Ciro Di Brita @Ciruzzo36
Gianluigi Buffon – 8
The 40-year-old keeper made his comeback after missing the most of the last few months through injury and came up big by saving the penalty by Papu Gomez.
Kept his side ahead again when he pulled off a big save at the end of the game.
Mattia Di Sciglio – 6
Decent game from the former Milan man, was calm at the back and dealt with whatever Atalanta threw at him.
Medhi Benatia – 5
Made a big mistake early in the game when in possession of the ball but got lucky that Atalanta could do nothing with the giveaway. Had a handball in the box given as a penalty by VAR.
Giorgio Chiellini – 6
Was lucky to have not been called up for a penalty when his arm was all over the face of Cornelius inside the box. Had the big Dane in his pocket all night aside from that, and defended stubbornly.
Alex Sandro – 6
Tidy display by the Brazilian left-back, didn’t put a foot wrong but didn’t really do much as an attacking outlet.
Miralem Pjanic – 6
Looked hungry and up for it in the opening minutes but faded badly from the game, his distribution and free kicks were poor.
Blaise Matuidi – 6
Acted more as a defensive shield than an attacking box to box midfielder. Should have done better when teed-up on the edge of the box on one of his rare forays forward but fired high and wide.
Sami Khedira – 6
The German international kept things neat and tidy in the centre of the field while spending most of his time on the back-foot defending.
Douglas Costa – 6
Quiet game from the Brazilian winger, was involved early in the match before disappearing. Was replaced by Bernardeschi around the hour mark.
Gonzalo Higuain – 7
Opened the scoring early when a lucky bounce from a mistimed interception found him, before he outfoxed ex-Juve man Andrea Masiello with a feint then slotted in past Etrit Berisha in the Atalanta goal.
Mario Mandzukic – 6
Croatian is happy enough sacrificing his striker role for the sake of the team and put in another selfless shift getting up and down the pitch.
Substitutes:
Federico Bernardeschi – 5
Came on for Douglas Costa and had more defending than attacking to do. Got flattened by Masiello with an ugly tackle.
Andrea Barzagli – 6
Replaced Benatia to bring some defensive strength in to the backline for the last 10 minutes and made one huge big block.
Rodrigo Bentancur – N/A
Came on for Pjanic at the end of the game.