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17.10.2020 » Crotone 1-1 Juventus. The champions dropped points again!
It's never easy to play well when coming off an international break and much less when you can't have your best players on the pitch. Juventus had to prepare their away game against Crotone without Dybala and Cristiano Ronaldo, which inevitably forced Andrea Pirlo to change a few routines in an attempt to see his side victorious this weekend. Unfortunately for the Italian champions, the hosts never made it easy for them and the 1-1 draw at the of the 90 minutes ended up being a fair result. Crotone scored first in the 12th minute of the game, but Juventus' response came shortly after in the 21st minute, when Alvaro Morata finished off a great cross from Federico Chiesa.
Crotone 1-1 Juventus - Goals and highlights:
Multiple changes in Pirlo's lineup
We were all expecting several changes in Juventus' lineup ahead of tonight's game against Crotone, but Pirlo ended up playing a few more surprises than most of us were certainly counting on...
In goal, the experienced Gianluigi Buffon took his spot and had a 3-man defense ahead of him, formed by Danilo, Bonucci and Demiral. In midfield, Andrea Pirlo played a 4-man block, with Arthur, Bentancur, Chiesa and Frabotta. Upfront and with so many key players missing, the attack was left to Portanova, Kulusevski and Morata.
Overall, it was a very poor performance from the Vecchia Signora and not even the fact that they were forced to play with 10-men for roughly half an hour of the second half really works as a good excuse to tonight's disappointing draw. Federico Chiesa saw a straight red card in the 60th minute of the game, but Juve was already struggling a lot before that incident took place...
No one made the difference for the champions...
A late tackle from Bonucci paved the way for the hosts to break the deadlock, as the referee didn't hesitate in pointing to the penalty spot and awarding Crotone a golden chance to beat Buffon around the 12th minute of the first half. Simy steeped up and showed a lot of class taking his shot and giving his side the early lead in a very important game for the Serie A newcomers.
Andrea Pirlo's men reacted well to that first upset though and they managed to draw things level just 10 minutes later, in a fast attacking play. The three men upfront got involved in the play, as Kulusevski found Chiesa storming on the right and the 22-year old assisted Alvaro Morata for the equaliser. At the time, it almost looked like the game was going to change and Juventus was going to start bossing their opponents, but that's not what happened...
Crotone hadn't earned a single point in the Serie A until tonight's game against Juventus, so it was more than natural to see the hosts settling with the draw and defending this result almost as if their lives depended on it. Curiously, Juventus got slightly better in the second half after they were one man down, but the best they could do was to score a goal that got disallowed and the 1-1 draw remained unchanged until the referee's final whistle.
Juventus line-up vs Crotone:
Goalkeeper: Buffon
Defenders: Danilo, Bonucci, Demiral
Midfielders: Arthur, Bentancur, Frabotta, Chiesa
Attackers: Kulusevski, Portanova, Morata.
Match stats provided by www.ronaldo7.net
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|---|---|---|
Crotone
|
vs
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Juventus
|
1 |
Goals |
1 |
10 |
Shots |
11 |
3 |
Shots on goal |
2 |
3 |
Corner kicks |
4 |
17 |
Fouls commited |
14 |
3 |
Yellow cards |
3 |
0 |
Red cards |
1 |
46% |
Ball possession |
54% |
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Juventus in the UEFA Champions League is on October 20, against Dynamo Kiev. You can watch Dynamo Kiev vs Juventus, Real Madrid vs Shakhtar Donetsk, Villarreal vs Valencia, Leicester City vs Aston Villa, Tottenham vs West Hamm, and AS Roma vs Benevento, all matches provided from our soccer game pages.
Juventus next game:
Dynamo Kiev vs Juventus kick-off time (20-10-2020):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+8: 00:55
Jakarta (Indonesia) | UTC/GMT+7: 23:55
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+5.30: 22:25
Italy (Turin) | UTC/GMT+2: 18:55
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+2: 18:55
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+1: 17:55
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 13:55
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 12:55
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 09:55
Sources: ronaldo7.net / juventus.com / kickoff.com / beinsports.com
