30.01.2019 » Atalanta 3-0 Juventus. Shocking defeat and knocked out of the cup
It could hardly have gone worse for Juventus this Wednesday night in Bergamo. The Vecchia Signora travelled to the North of Italy to play Atalanta in one of the Coppa Italia quarter-finals and the final score says it all: 3-0 to the hosts and out of the cup. The Italian champions are clearly struggling right now and one of the main reasons for that to happen is the fact their defence has basically collapsed since the beginning of the year. Cristiano Ronaldo was on the pitch the entire match, but just like his teammates, he couldn't change the fate of the game...
Cristiano Ronaldo game photos in Atalanta vs Juventus
Atalanta 3-0 Juventus - Goals and highlights:
All Cristiano Ronaldo actions vs Atalanta:
An Attitude problem
If there's anything we can easily identify as being one of Juventus problems right now, that's their lack of attitude when approaching their recent games, especially in the first half. The league game against Lazio last weekend had already showed us some worrying signs from the black and white men, even though a late reaction there allowed Massimiliano Allegri to disguise the problem for a bit longer. This Wednesday everything collapsed and there's no coming back in the Italian cup.
The first evidence we can find from tonight's encounter is that Allegri decided not to change many things in his starging eleven following last Sunday's extremelly difficult win in Rome against Lazio. At the back, the Italian manager only replced the injured Bonucci for Chiellini, keeping Szczesny, Alex Sandro, Rugani and De Sciglio in the lineup. Unfortunately, Chiellini would also pick up an injury in the first half and was forced to leave the pitch before the first half hour.
In midfield, Allegri relied again on Matuidi and Bentancur, while replacing Emre Can for Sami Khedira. That didn't play in his favor though, as Juventus struggled to connect their game until changes were brought on later in the second half. Upfront, Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala kept their starting spots and Bernardeschi relegated Douglas Costa to the bench.
Stats don't Lie...
If we look at the half-time stats from Juventus last two matches and combine the two, we see that the Italian champions only made 2 shots and didn't hit the target in a single occasion. Not only that, but they allowed their opponents a total of 18 shots (10 on target). That's not compatible with a team who aspires to win every game they walk into.
Tonight, it's hard to leave a compliment to any Juventus' player. Everyone had a bad game and Atalanta managed to capitalise on that. The opener in the 37th minute was born in possession lost by João Cancelo, just like the hosts' third and final goal was the result of an horrible pass from De Sciglio. It didn't matter where you looked at tonight, everyone was failing to deliver as they should. Even though Atalanta are only 7th in the league this year, they do have the best attack in the competition and they certainly made Juventus pay for every mistake they commited in Bergamo.
With the Italian cup out of the equation for this season's maths, Juventus have no other option but to focus almost at 100% in their Champions League agenda, while also assuring that they keep a comfortable distance to Napoli in the Serie A. We're three weeks away from the first leg in Spain against Atletico Madrid and hopefully we'll see Juve and Cristiano Ronaldo finding their best form yet again by then...
Juventus line-up vs Atalanta:
Goalkeeper: Szczesny
Defenders: Alex Sandro, Rugani, Chiellini, De Sciglio
Midfielders: Matuidi, Khedira, Bentancur
Attackers: Bernardeschi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dybala.
Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
|
||
---|---|---|
Atalanta
|
vs
|
Juventus
|
3 |
Goals |
0 |
10 |
Shots |
10 |
6 |
Shots on goal |
1 |
3 |
Corner kicks |
5 |
16 |
Fouls commited |
9 |
3 |
Yellow cards |
2 |
0 |
Red cards |
0 |
45% |
Ball possession |
55% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Juventus is on January 30 of 2019 against Parma. You can watch Juventus vs Parma, Girona vs Real Madrid, Barcelona vs Valencia, Chelsea vs Huddersfield Town, Inter vs Lazio, and Hannover vs RB Leipzig, all matches provided from our football live and soccer game pages.
Juventus next game:
Juventus vs Parma kick-off time (30-01-2019):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 03:30
Jakarta (Indonesia) | UTC/GMT+7: 02:30
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 01:00
Italy (Turin) | UTC/GMT+1: 20:30
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 20:30
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 19:30
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 16:30
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 15:30
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 12:30
Sources: ronaldo7.net / juventus.com / calciomercato.com / espn.com
[ Ronaldo photos in Atalanta vs Juventus / Back to News Index ]