There were days in which Juventus holding onto a slim but important lead was something that they would see out on a regular basis. It was stressful, sure, but it was also a trait in which they became such
a successful club once again. The defense bent but rarely broke, giving us the kind of faith that leads were actually in safe hands when Juventus were trying to protect one.
These current days are not like those previous ones.
We saw it in important fixtures over the last couple of seasons. We saw it against provincial sides, too. The same script repeated itself — Juventus tried to defend their lead, only for the opposition to level things up on the doorstep of second-half stoppage time and level things up just when you thought they might actually see out the win.
We can now add Villarreal to the list of clubs that Juventus have seen score with only stoppage time to go. And not only was it a former Juventus player in Renato Veiga — yeah, sure, he was in bianconero for less than six months, but he still wore those stripes — but also in a second half where Igor Tudor’s squad was the better side. Villarreal didn’t test Mattia Perin in goal the same way they did in the first half, but on what proved to be one of the final scoring chances of the night, Juventus’ zonal marking failed to keep track of their former teammate and arguably the biggest threat in the air on the field.
The end result was a 2-2 draw on Wednesday, the result of that ilk to begin the Champions League league phase and fourth straight on the spin for a Juventus side that could very well have been sitting just outside of the top eight if they actually were to get their first European win of the season.
But the ifs can only go so far once again. This Juventus team has now only won one game — the Derby d’Italia thriller — since the September international break ended. At least when it comes to the results, it’s suddenly looking a lot like last season when it felt like all Juve did was record draw after draw.
Oh, right. The late goal allowed. I guess that’s a reminder of last year and the ones before that, too.
It’s the kind of gut punch in which feels all too familiar in multiple ways. Juventus were playing well as they ventured out on their second-half comeback that saw Federico Gatti score an absolute beauty of an overhead kick out of nowhere and Francisco Conceição turn nothing into something with a little bit of individual magic to put his team ahead for the first time all night.
Even as the second half went on, it wasn’t like Villarreal were incredibly threatening. Perin, the somewhat surprising starter in goal even with the rumors earlier in the day surfacing that he might get the call, wasn’t forced into any other major saves like he was on multiple shots in the first half. It felt, at least a little bit, like Juve were actually in control of things and were going to see this thing out.
The problem has become, maybe that’s a little too naive to think at the moment — especially when there isn’t a broad-shouldered Brazilian in the center of the Juventus defense like was the case on this day.
With no Bremer out there, this defense is pretty much the same we saw during the second half of last season. And that is one that couldn’t hold onto leads and rarely recorded shutouts like they did the turn of the new year. The fact that Veiga was able to rise up like he did and wasn’t really challenged at all knowing that this was the 90th minute is just inexcusable. You can’t allow that to happen if you’re marking either him personally or the area in which he is taking up. And let’s face it, there sure were bodies around Veiga … not exactly challenging for the ball.
So on and on it goes.
This is the current state of Juventus, folks. They’re still very much a team with flaws and a manager that made some good moves against Villarreal but also probably pulled the trigger on solely trying to defend the one-goal lead a little too soon. This game was there for the taking — I’m 100% convinced that it was with how Juve played in the second half.
Ultimately, this thing where Juventus allows last-minute goals continued its trend of popping up in games that are rather important. As much as the stoppage-time comeback against Borussia Dortmund was two weeks ago, now sitting here and looking how this draw in the Champions League played out just has me thinking a different kind of way.
I’m guessing I’m not the only one going about that piece of mental gymnastics, too.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Man, if only Jonathan David had scored one of those chances he had, huh?
- OK, so it’s not just something to pile on David, but a 3-1 lead sure would have been nice to have considering how the rest of that game played out.
- Also those couple of Weston McKennie headers that nearly found the back of the net would have been rather handy, too. Just a thought.
- The Ex Effect is still a real thing and you can’t tell me otherwise.
- Perin had a good night in goal. Those two first-half saves he made obviously were great because it kept things within touching distance and allowed Juve to actually go on the comeback that they did. But actually allowing the corner that led to Villarreal tying things up to actually happen is a blemish on his performance. You come out like that, at that time of the game, you have to prevent the corner from happening — and he missed.
- I love the Gatti story. I really do. But also, if he’s your best defender on the field when you’re trying to lock down three points in the Champions League, I just don’t know what that says about your defense as a whole.
- Then again, he’s the same guy who is a center back and scored a goal like this …
- When you have Gatti scoring a goal like that, you start to maybe think that is actually your night. I confess, I was starting to believe a little bit. Too bad that feeling didn’t last through the final whistle.
- The Conceição sub for Teun Koopmeiners at the beginning of the second half sure worked out well, didn’t it? Tudor took off a player that wasn’t doing much and instead put on a player who ended up doing a whole lot of everything. There were things to take issue with from what Tudor did against Villarreal, but bringing Conceição when he did certainly ain’t one of them.
- Then again, through the first 20 minutes or so, it didn’t look like Juventus were going to have much of a chance to win this one — at all.
- I mean, Juan Cabal was getting run past routinely and the Juve defense was all over the place trying to slow down Nicolas Pepe and the rest of the Villarreal attack. It was not encouraging, and thankfully Perin did make the saves he did during the opening half to keep it at 1-0.
- Brutal turn of events for Cabal, who went from the thrill of his first goal with Juventus (and in Serie A) to having to be subbed off after 15 minutes due to injury. Guessing we don’t see him for a few weeks, if not longer, thanks to that hamstring injury that didn’t look good at all simply by his reaction to it.
- It was a rather subdued night for Kenan Yildiz, who took three shots but didn’t put any of them on frame. Who knows how much fatigue is playing into it, but his last couple of shot attempts weren’t even close to the Villarreal goal. I’d say the international break will be good for him, but the fact that he’s going to be with his national team for the better part of those two weeks means our young and wonderful No. 10 ain’t going to be resting any time soon.
- Maybe introducing a defender in Daniele Rugani who hasn’t played a single minute since Juve’s preseason slate in August with 10 minutes to go in a game you’re trying to lock down and win wasn’t the best idea.
- Having Joao Mario and Pierre Kalulu as young wingbacks while you’re trying to hang onto a lead in the Champions League is not something I was envisioning a few months ago. Yet here we are.
- Just add this one to the list of games over the last season or two in which Juventus probably should have won but didn’t actually win. It’s becoming such a long list. That’s not a good thing.
- There’s probably more things to say, but I’m grumpy and can’t think of much else.
- Juventus were ninth in the UCL league phase live table right before Veiga’s goal hit the back of the net. They’re now sitting in 23rd.
- Just … grumble.
- Pass the bourbon. Just do it and don’t look back.
