Fiasco in Al-Awwal Park: What went wrong for Juventus against Milan

Yesterday at 01:50 AM

First loss in a while, huh?

Well, Juventus are officially out of contention for their first potential piece of hardware for 2025. It's not the Scudetto or Big Ears. In fact, it's in a competition that many do not hold in too much regard, sitting behind any European title, the Coppa Italia, and the aforementioned domestic title.

That being said, with the lack of trophies over the past few years, it would have been at least a small arrow in the quiver of Thiago Motta and his squad..

But the calcio gods did not smile on the Bianconeri Friday night, as they made their stand at Al-Awwal Park against an AC Milan side that has recently undergone a managerial change and come out of the first weekend of 2024 in eighth place in the Serie A table. Nonetheless, it was not a great performance from Juventus, and one highlighted some persistent issues that the team has faced in the first half of the season.

Setting the stage

A few strange things happened before the match even took place. The first and most newsworthy was the firing of Milan manager Paulo Fonseca and hiring of Porto legend Sérgio Conceição with the hopes of pulling this lackluster side together in the second half of the season, starting with the Supercoppa. The other large and partially related factor was that Sergio's son, who you may know as the Juventus winger that can bob and weave between any number of defenders in a heartbeat, was absent from the match after initially being in the starting lineup. That's right, Francisco Conceição did not get to face his father's new team after picking up a warm up injury.

This was unfortunate, as a father versus son match is always wonderful for storytelling and the eventual clash. However, Juventus will face Milan again in a couple of weeks in Turin, so the first family rivalry match of 2025 will not have to be the Thuram Derby in mid-February.

Some good

As always, Kenan Yildiz showed up and showed out, being able to claim the only (intentional) Juventus goal thansk an early run that seemed to bolster the team's motivation to potentially be able to play against Inter in the final. In fact, the first half was not a horrible showing, and Motta's squad seemed to be in much more control of the ball and had very positive pace, which could not be said for the Rossoneri in the same half.

This has actually been a theme this season, as Juventus play well early on, score first, and then fail to maintain composure in the second half.

Vlahovic's role

Dusan Vlahovic remains an enigma on so many levels. From time to time, fans will see incredible form and goal-scoring runs, a drought in performance, and then a bounce back.

However, this match certainly showcased the Serbian striker at a low point. From dead giveaways, to a fake pass to nobody, to his failure to secure the second goal in what seemed like a very easy shot off of a Yildiz cross, Vlahovic seemed unable to make any measurable impact against Milan, and was eventually subbed off in the 65th minute. Following the match, CBS analyst Matteo Bonetti posted on social media to post an a minute-long set of clips of the striker's "abysmal" performance.

Vlahovic has now been with Juventus since January 2022 on contract that now has him as the top earner in Serie A. There have been many times that he has shown his quality, but there have been so many instances of his inconsistency and overall inability to perform his function that makes one wonder what the next steps could be come the summer.

Locatelli pen-mano

For the unfortunate penalty giveaway that came at the hands of Manuel Locatelli, it is important to remember that he has been a consistent powerhouse all season, and the eventual PK scored by Christian Pulisic that leveled the scoreline was a miscalculated tackle. That being said, it was an extremely costly error that simply did not need to happen at a time in the second half where Milan was regaining its confidence.

More or less, this penalty spelled the beginning of the end for the Old Lady, as the cohesion and play began to crumble in the remaining 20 minutes. There were six Juventus shirts and three Milan shirts in the box, excluding Locatelli and Pulisic when the tackle occurred, and it seemed that the American was making his way out of the box to recompose the attack. It certainly was not a crucial tackle at the time, though anything could have happened should Milan have retained possession.

Even as the whistle blew, Locatelli knew the error he had made, with his hands immediately moving to cover his face in anguish.

The Gatti Coin Flip

As it's been said many times, Federico Gatti is a mystery in the game of football. Some days his luck is incredible, scoring headers, getting the last-second block and performing extremely well. But some days, the man from Rivoli seems to be cursed by the aforementioned football gods. His 75th-minute block of Yunnis Musah's cross seemed a simple one that would either result in a corner kick or throw in, but a wild deflection not only sent the ball toward the box, but into the back of the net, suddenly giving the lead over to the Rossoneri.

Now, there are conflicting opinions on this. It did seem that Gatti was doing his best in a pressure situation and that the deflection was simply something that could not have been foreseen. However, others have claimed, one of which being Italian Football Podcast's own Nima Tavallaey, that Juve keeper Michele Di Gregorio was out of position and the goal could have been something avoidable all together.

At this point, it makes little sense to reanalyze it, and all that can be said is that it was an unfortunate and hopefully infrequent progression of play that was overwhelmingly costly in the Supercoppa semifinals.

Where is the attack? Where is the effort?

One of the biggest topics of conversation in the summer of 2024 was how Juventus was going to bolster its attack in the new season. Was it going to be new signings, new tactics, the new manager? Hopefully it was all of those. But it has seemed that a pattern of second-half momentum crashes has followed this Juventus team like a dog smelling bacon since the season kicked off, and there was no better example than the second half of this match.

Now, the creation of the chances are not the culprit here, as the likes of Yildiz, Francisco Conceicao, Khephren Thuram, and Timothy Weah have done quite well this season in bringing the ball into a threatening area of the opponent's half. It's more an issue of the finish. Chances are squandered often, and while it is important to half that attacking half possession and buildup, they're not the deciding factor, it's what goes in the back of the net. The persistent issue is that attempts from crosses or passes near the box either don't find a viable target, or their target simply cannot put the nail in the coffin.

To that end, a conversation on overall effort is still there, and there are some schools of thought. One wonders what the terrifying Sergio Conceicao said to his new team at the half, and whatever he did say inspired them to outplay Juventus in the second half. However, it does become on the Bianconeri to both lock down their own half when there is a lead, as well as make attacking runs that actually become game changers. This is easier said than done, of course, especially with some of the best Bianconeri sidelined due to injuries. But it does come off that the current squad often look completely shellshocked after opponents score on them, and begin a scramble to either equalize or maintain any consistency as matches wind down.

Hopefully, this match was an indication to everyone that things need to change, as a very mismanaged and pieced together Milan side should not be the ones who knock Juventus out of the Supercoppa. Let's hope that this transfer window can bring on some serious talent, as the battle for top four, Champions League, and the Coppa Italia rage on.

And as always, fino alla fine.