On a European night, Juventus are struggling. They’re on the road wearing their black third kit, up against a side in light blue with white shorts. They played a poor first half, and they’ve fallen behind 1-0. Then, a rally. One of their strikers scores, then another, and head back to Turin with a 2-1 victory.
If I gave you that description in a vacuum, your mind would likely have zeroed in on September of 2015, when Juventus came from behind to beat Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in their
Champions League opener that season. But Thursday’s Europa League matchup against Celta Vigo now qualifies under the same set of circumstances. No, it won’t be quite as iconic as that night in Manchester when Mario Mandzukic and Alvaro Morata overturned a Manuel Pellegrini-era City team and one of the most iconic photos of the BBC defense was taken, but in the context of this season it could end up rather important.
Visiting the Balaídos for the first time since one of their worst-ever European defeats in this very competition’s predecessor in 2000, Juve rotated heavily and looked listless for the first half, and even into the second after Nick Woltemade’s goal in the 58th minute failed to generate the kind of momentum that you’d expect.
But they kept themselves going, and in the end Andrea Cambiaso — who, truth be told, hadn’t been particularly great throughout the game — dropped a gorgeous cross into Randal Kolo Muani’s lap, and he cold-bloodedly headed the ball through the legs of Ionut Radu with 60 seconds of stoppage time left.
The victory kept them on top of the league phase table, ahead of Bayer Leverkusen on goals scored, and on course to maintain a top-eight spot.
How did everyone do in this come-from-behind victory? Let’s take a closer look.
GIUGLIELMO VICARIO – 5.5. Couldn’t be faulted on the goal itself, and he only had to face one other shot on target, but I wasn’t fully impressed with his ability to marshal the defense. They looked really discombobulated at times, but Celta weren’t making them pay.
PIERRE KALULU – 6.5. A much better day for Kalulu than his last few outings. He co-led the team with three tackles and added three key passes in, the second-most on the squad.
FEDERICO GATTI – 5. Made a couple of good defensive plays but wasn’t consistent. Not his strongest effort by a long shot.
LLOYD KELLY – 5. His form’s kinda fallen off a cliff along with his playing time. Got sucked completely out of position on Celta’s goal, to the point where I had to rewind the tape a few times figure out just where he was.
WESTON McKENNIE – 5.5. Had a pair of tackles but often drifted inside, where he got himself into traffic and therefore wasn’t particularly effective.
PAPE MATAR SARR – 6. His engine in midfield is impressive, and is going to be put to good use on the press. Led the team with three interceptions and co-led with just as many tackles. He also made a pair of clearances (again joint-top) and blocked two shots.
TEUN KOOPMEINERS – 5.5. Had a lot of good numbers — two tackles, two key passes, a shot on target — but somehow it felt like there was more lying behind that that he just wasn’t tapping into.
ANDREA CAMBIASO – 6. Gets the minimum pass for the gorgeous cross that produced the game-winning goal, but he was struggling behind the facade of his numbers until that moment, and his defending on Celta’s goal was bad. Like, bad bad. Had Zeki Çelik not been training separately from the team earlier this week he might’ve gotten hauled off before he had the chance to make the cross.
FRANCISCO CONCEIÇÃO – 5. Had a pair of shots on target in the second half but spent most of the first doing his best Milos Krasic impression. He continues to be one of the most frustrating Juventus players of recent times when it comes to the juxtaposition of talent and results.
KERIM ALAJBEGOVIC – 5.5. Led the team with four dribbles but didn’t hit the target with any of his shots and only completed three-quarters of his passes.
NICK WOLTEMADE – 6.5. Missed a chance in the first half but was there when Marcos Alonso’s brain fart gifted him the equalizer on a plate. Did better once Kolo Muani was on the field, and had a whopping seven key passes.
SUBS
RANDAL KOLO MUANI – 6.5. His nutmeg header on Radu was one of the coldest finishes I’ve seen in a long time.
NICO GONZÁLEZ – 5.5. Came so close to winning the game himself a few minutes before Kolo Muani, but curled just wide. Had a lot of energy after coming on but not a lot of end result beyond that.
JHON LUCUMÍ – 6. Shored up a shaky defense and let the team concentrate on going forward.
BREMER – 6. Had as many clearances (2) in 21 minutes as Lloyd Kelly did in 69 (nice). Like Lucumí, turned a shaky defense solid.
DOUGLAS LUIZ – NR. Didn’t have a ton of time to make a difference after replacing Koopmeiners.
MANAGER ANAYLSIS
Once is a data point. Twice is a trend. And it’s been twice in two games now that the Juventus attack ended up far better once both of their strikers were on the field together. Alone, Woltemade and Kolo Muani tend to be isolated and condemned to work against multiple defenders, hoping that one of them makes a blunder like Alonso did today. Together, they compliment each other quite well, making the right runs that end up clearing space for one or the other to do their work.
If this is how the attack can look with the two of them together being Plan B, how might things work when that is Plan A? The possible answers are tantalizing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we still don’t see the two of them on the field at the same time — at least not right away. There aren’t any other healthy strikers at the moment, which, unless one counts Nico González as a potential makeshift seconda punta, means Luciano Spalletti would be firing with both barrels without any ammo in his pocket.
That being the case, I wouldn’t expect Woltemade and Kolo Muani to play together from the start in the immediate future—at least not until Jeff Ekhator (remember him?) is healthy and gives Spalletti another striker to use if something needs to change mid-game. That shouldn’t be too long, or so the reports say, but until then, expect playing them together to be a later-game option for when the team needs a goal.
Aside from the two of them, the magnitude of Spalletti’s rotation on Thursday night was surprising to me. Celta are a Pot 3 team and have struggled for form this season, but a trip to Spain is always challenging, and it’s not like the team has been clicking on all cylinders right now. Koopmeiners simply wasn’t up to the task, and Cambiaso looked equal parts rusty and his recent inconsistent self at the same time and likely would’ve been pulled had Çelik been fully healthy. The disruption of the defensive unit was perhaps the biggest issue — neither Gatti nor Kelly has had much in the way of playing time since Lucumí arrived, with Gatti being used more as a makeshift late-game striker than a true defender. The defense really wobbled until Lucumí and Bremer came on late and Juve could stand on that stronger foundation to finally get forward with more impunity. This might’ve been a step too far for Spalletti in terms of changing things up for this match.
LOOKING AHEAD
Juve return to Turin for a home game against Serie A surprise package Lazio on Sunday, then welcome Stade Rennais for more Europa League action on Thursday. That will be followed by three league games in a seven-day span: away to Lecce and Genoa before welcoming Napoli to the Allianz on the first of November.
