The message was clear from the traveling fans as Juventus walked off the field at halftime down 1-0 to Bodø/Glimt on a frigid Tuesday night in Norway: “Tirate fuori gli attributi.”
You probably don’t have
to be all that fluent in Italian to get the gist of what was bend that very understandable statement from those Juve supporters braving the below-freezing temperatures to root on their beloved Old Lady. But after the first half Juventus put forward, the point was quite the valid one.
So what did we get?
Not just a second-half comeback, but some signs of life amidst the same puzzling mistakes that this team continues to make regardless of who they’re playing.
Juventus’ winless run in the Champions League this season is officially over. And not only did one of the Bianconeri’s struggling strikers they signed over the summer find the back of the net, but both of them did, with Jonathan David scoring the game-winning goal in the first minute of stoppage time to give Juve the 3-2 comeback win over Bodø/Glimt at the Aspmyra Stadion. To say how much Luciano Spalletti’s squad needed these three points in the UCL league phase can’t be denied, and the fact that they actually came out in the second half and right so many of the wrongs that we had seen in the opening 45 minutes.
The 1-0 deficit was flipped within 15 minutes, with Loïs Openda scoring his first goal in a Juve shirt to tie it up, then Weston McKennie headed home a Fabio Miretti cross to put Juventus ahead. It was, honestly, a stunning flip — and one that coincided with Kenan Yildiz being introduced to start the second half.
Those things might have been related to one another.
(OK, maybe a little bit more than “might” considering Yildiz was absolutely terrorizing Bodø/Glimt’s defense from the first minute he was on the field until the final whistle sounded.)
But considering the fact that Juventus had all of three points from their first four Champions League games this season, there’s no denying just how much they needed to win this one. It didn’t really matter how they did it, just as long as they actually did it. They needed to show some sort of fight, some sort of spirit to actually turn the game in their favor and do whatever they needed to do to get back into the top 24. (You know, the place they weren’t in at the start of the day.)
Was it pretty? Of course not.
Did Juan Cabal doing another completely unnecessary tackle for the second time in the last four days cause what looked like a pretty good second-half performance into a complete scramble to get the lead again? Yes, yes it did.
But this team doesn’t do anything easy. It can’t be said enough that they are their own worst enemy so often and it’s those mistakes that lead to so many of the goals that they allow either domestically or in Europe. It’s something that speaks to their overall level, but also just their simple in-game awareness that continues to backfire right in front of them at the most inopportune times.
Yet … they won. They actually did.
One win over a club that was also sitting outside of the top 24 doesn’t solve everything, but it’s a start. The first 45 minutes was bad. It was the kind of performance that had you wondering if they could actually turn the scoreline back in their favor. Juve were not only trailing 1-0, but they were being outshot 13-8 and were looking rather devoid of ways to actually solve the hole that they had dug themselves into in the first half.
Whatever Spalletti said, just go ahead and bottle that for the rest of the season because it certainly worked.
Outside of the game-tying penalty kick — which, you know, didn’t have to happen if Cabal times his tackle attempt correctly — Juventus’ defense was much more of a solid unit compared to the opening 45 minutes. The fact that Juve outshot Bodø/Glimt 15-5 was proof of that — and it also just reflected how much more on the front foot they were as compared to having around 40% of the possession most of the first half.
The proof was how completely different they looked in the second half as compared to the first. Same goes for having Yildiz on the field as compared to him trying to stay warm as he was bundled up on the bench to begin the game.
No matter what, though, they won it. As I’m sitting here writing this whole thing, I’m wondering at times how they actually did it. But they did. And now they’ve got twice as many points in the Champions League as they did a couple of hours earlier.
Not all wins are pretty — and especially with this iteration of Juventus. At least they won — and that’s what matters most compared to how things were looking just a few minutes before David found the back of the net.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
- Hey, did you hear it’s cold in Bodø? I think the rumors are true.
- You know how I know? Because when a manager like Spalletti who loves himself a slick suit on the sidelines instead goes for the beanie and big puffer jacket, then you know it’s cold. (Or well below freezing in this case.) Plus, this man managed in Russia for a few years, so he is already well-versed in cold-weather fixtures.
- Or maybe the snow piled up on the sidelines by both benches was another clue? I don’t know. Working to confirm all of this as we speak.
- Breaking news: Kenan Yildiz is really freakin’ good.
- Somebody pray for Fredrik Sjøvold, Bodø/Glimt’s right back. He might be seeing Yildiz in his nightmares in a few hours.
- Even if Yildiz is somebody who desperately needs a rest, that performance off the bench wholeheartedly deserved the Man of the Match award. That young man was the biggest reason why Juve flipped things in their favor after such a dour first half. He actually gave them a presence on the left wing — and then some.
- Vasilije Adžić is a talented young player and it’s good to see Spalletti showing some trust in him in an important Champions League fixture when Juve had to win. He ain’t Yildiz, though.
- Fabio Miretti in the first half compared to Fabio Miretti in the second half — much better!
- Air Weston McKennie reporting for duty, folks!
- Man, McKennie sure did get up for that header, didn’t he? Good to see him finally get on the end of something because his areal ability feels like something Juventus should utilize more often.
- Oh, and McKennie was all over the place defensively. Well, outside of maybe not marking the back post on the opening goal. Other than that, the dude racked up defensive stats like no other.
- Openda scoring goals now? In this economy? Unheardof!
- Seriously, though, once you saw Openda actually able to play more of his game in the second half as compared to the first, it’s pretty nice to see him actually get on the scoresheet. Same goes for David, who hadn’t scored since Juve’s season-opening win over Parma. Those two guys needed goals so badly.
- I’m still wondering what Juan Cabal is doing sometimes. It’s like he’s pressing to the max now that he’s back from injury again. Just calm down, my guy.
- The two players Spalletti played out on the left wingback spot on Tuesday night, Cabal and Andrea Cambiaso, don’t exactly inspire a whole lot of confidence on the defensive end these days.
- A couple of the blocked shots by Manuel Locatelli were absolutely crucial. Guy has his faults, but he sure doesn’t shy away from putting his body on the line to block a shot.
- Hey, did you hear it was cold in Bodø? OK, just checking again.
- Chico Conceição looked unpleased as he walked off the field right before Bodø/Glimt tied things up. It’s almost like he knew what was coming. (Some of us probably did, too.)
- They finally won a game in the Champions League! How about that?!
- Not pretty. Not perfect by any means. But they showed some fight in the second half. That’s a small bit of progress, but it’s progress nonetheless. I mean, it’s more than we can say about what we saw over the weekend in Florence. (Nobody wants to remember that, but unfortunately we have no other choice.)
