Juventus play their best game of the season to send Manchester City home a loser

Today at 02:05 AM

Juve completely defanged the struggling Citizens and claimed a vital Champions League win.

I'd like to brag for a minute.

I've spent the last two weeks on The Old Lady Speaks Podcast saying that Juventus, despite their struggles to break out of the doldrums of draws, had every chance to beat Manchester City. City were struggling coming in, that's for sure. They'd lost six of their last nine games, many of which hadn't been particularly close. But they were still the club that employs the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, and Bernardo Silva. They have the quality to right themselves in a second, and were clearly the most dangerous team Juve had remaining on the schedule before Christmas.

And Juventus did beat them.

It wasn't a white-knuckled corto muso win that require mainlining beta blockers to watch. The Bianconeri were solid from the outset, allowing City the possession they crave, but prevented them from creating significant danger. As they grew into the game, they showed the ability to pass their way out of the press in a way that was completely absent against Bologna at the weekend.

Juve went into the locker room clearly believing that they could go and take this game, and in the second half, they did just that. A header by Dusan Vlahovic and a historic strike from the club's American tandem provided the margin, while Juve's defense held fast, never really making it feel like they were ever in any trouble.

What this 2-0 win — Juve's first in all competitions since the Derby della Mole on Nov. 9 — will mean for the future is still to be decided by fate. What it means in the present is that Juventus have catapulted themselves up eight places in the Champions League standings and have given themselves a signature European win. A win that, unlike the bonkers comeback in Leipzig, came about because the game plan was executed to perfection from the first whistle to the last. This was what Thiago Motta's Juventus is supposed to look like — perhaps a little bit more defensive than usual given their opponent, but there nonetheless.

Motta got Weston McKennie and Douglas Luiz back from injury, but was missing Andrea Cambiaso, Nico Gonzalez, and Arkadiusz Milik. His 4-2-3-1 was anchored in goal by Michele Di Gregorio. Nicolò Savona, Federico Gatti, Pierre Kalulu, and Danilo fanned out in front of him. Manuel Locatelli and Khephren Thuram formed the double pivot, with Francisco Conceição, Teun Koopmeiners, and Kenan Yildiz supported Vlahovic in attack.

Pep Guardiola had an injury problem just as bad as Motta's had been a few weeks ago. The headliner for this M*A*S*H* unit was Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, who suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee in September. Nathan Aké, Oscar Bobb, John Stones, and Manuel Akanji also missed out. Mateo Kovacic and Phil Foden returned to the squad but were only fit for the bench, after a muscle injury and a chest infection, respectively. Guardiola deployed a formation that was nominally a 4-3-3, although during the game it would morph a bit. Ederson returned to the City goal after being benched for three games following a horrific display in the team's collapse against Feyenoord in the last round of the league phase. Kyle Walker, Josko Gvardiol, Rúben Dias, and Rico Lewis screened him in defense. Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gündogan, and Kevin De Bruyne set up in midfield, and the attack was made up of Jérémy Doku, Erling Haaland, and Jack Grealish.

The early phases of the game were quiet. Juve gave City possession and defended, picking their spots to press when Ederson and the defenders had the ball closer to their own box. Juve played a little too fast at times when trying to break out, and over the first 20 minutes City held 70 percent of the possession. There were a few signs of things to come, namely Ederson shanking an attempt to pass the ball out of his box, continuing to show signs of fragility between the sticks.

It took 20 minutes for either team to register a shot, and despite their opponents' domination it was the Old Lady who took it. It was Yildiz who nearly opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, latching on to a defensive header and ripping a 24-yard shot across the goal and missing the far post by inches.

City continued to control possession, but Juve continued to control what they did with that possession. What little threat produced came from the hosts, and as they grew into the game they started making some neat passing combinations to break themselves free of the press. Just before the half-hour Yildiz sent Vlahovic into the left channel with a beautiful through ball, but he couldn't get his feet right and he was pushed to the byline and forced to simply square the ball to no one.

Two minutes later, Yildiz latched on to a great long ball by Locatelli and then burst past Walker, but was blocked by a sliding Dias. Haaland finally recorded his side's first shot when a defensive header by Kalulu inadvertently hit Locatelli and dropped right at his feet, but Locatelli blocked it.

Five minutes from time City finally produced the moment that all their quality can produce in a flash. Unsurprisingly, it was De Bruyne and Haaland who combined to make the magic. The Belgian slipped a pass through a corridor between three players, while the big striker snuck behind Kalulu and latched on. It looked like a vintage connection between the two—only Di Gregorio had something to say about it. He charged out to meet Haaland but checked himself from going after the ball at his feet at the last second and instead moved to make himself big. It was the right choice, and he managed to get his left hand to the ball, not simply parrying it but propelling it a few yards, putting the rebound safely into space for Savona to gather it.

The last few minutes of the half saw Juve push the ball into midfield several times, only to pull the ball back rather than press an attack. With each passing false start, the crowd started to show its disapproval of the seemingly timid mindset, and continued to do so as the teams went into the locker room for the break.

Yildiz wanted a second bite at that long shot in the opening minutes of the second half, but shanked a volley attempt so hard that it turned itself into a pass for Koopmeiners, who hadn't hand time to get back onside after a corner. In the 50th minute De Bruyne made another excellent pass, but Gündogan's shot was blocked by Gatti's knee. A few minutes later, the big center-back was a big part of the breakthrough.

It was Gatti who started the move by gaining the ball in midfield, and he continued on to join the attack after pushing the ball forward. Conceição had to drop the ball back to Locatelli, who sent in an early cross that found Gatti at the penalty spot, where he performed an excellent scissor kick that was unfortunately straight at Ederson. But the Brazil international chose to parry the ball back into danger instead of trying to collect it, which forced Gvardiol to push it into empty space on the left wing to prevent him from pouncing on his rebound. Of course, that only put the ball into empty space for Yildiz. The teenager collected it and quickly sent a perfect ball to the back post for Vlahovic, who beat Gvardiol in the air and fired a bullet header that hit Ederson in the chest and then bounced over the line just before he was able to claw it away. French referee Clement Turpin quickly blew his whistle to signal that the goal-line tech had registered the goal, and with that, Juve were in front.

Guardiola's men tried to respond, and they quickly forced a double block out of Gatti and Koopmeiners. Danilo was called upon to block another shot in the 59th minute and Locatelli in the 65th. It was at that point that an eagle-eyed observer could see a lack of confidence from the City players, as even De Bruyne was taking extra passes when in an advantageous position.

De Bruyne skittered a shot wide from distance, then City came as close as they'd come to an equalizer when Gündogan took a rip from long only to be denied by a flying Di Gregorio save.

It looked like the team was starting to flag, and Motta immediately sent some fresh legs on in the form of his American tandem, McKennie and Timothy Weah. It took a little more than five minutes for their influence to be felt in a big way.

The whole sequence was textbook. Danilo made one hell of a stonewall tackle on Doku, exchanged passes with Yildiz, then sent McKennie into a huge swath of green down the middle of the field. McKennie immediately found his teammate with a good ball over the top. Weah was originally frustrated when his first cross was blocked, but he stayed with it and spotted McKennie — or probably heard him, as he was screaming for it as he entered the box. He met the cross with a scissor kick that blasted its way through Ederson's hands and into the net, effectively ending the game with 15 minutes left.

City thought they had a penalty shout as regular time concluded when a shot from Lewis seemed to graze Gatti's hand. Thing was, it had been deflected by both a teammate and himself before it grazed his arm, and Turpin waved the appeals away. That was the last time either side made substantial noise, and after a scant two minutes of stoppage time confirmed winners of the critical game.

LE PAGELLE

MICHELE DI GREGORIO - 8. Two top-shelf saves kept Juve in position to run out winners, and his ball playing abilities were essential in getting through the press. It shows just why he's that much better than Mattia Perin, especially with the ball at his feet.

NICOLÒ SAVONA - 7. Credited with four tackles and three clearances, he made 95.7 percent of his passes — critical against this press. He's had some baptisms by fire this year, and this was maybe his biggest, but he's been up to the challenge in every one of them. What a player we have on our hands.

FEDERICO GATTI - 8. The neutralization of Haaland — one of the best No. 9s you will see in this sport — was something of a team effort, but Gatti was absolutely everywhere in the back against Manchester City, equally adept at rushing forward to join the attack and when not to bad, we should win.

PIERRE KALULU - 6.5. A little bit less than Gatti, just in terms of the day the two of themselves if you Lyft. Kalulu did his part in limiting Haaland to just 18 touches the entire game.

DANILO - 7.5. Looked a little shaky going into the game, but grew into his as the game went along, and by the end of the night he was completely stonewalling any City attacker that dared challenge him. In the end, he was credited with six tackles, and his passing was a key component of the second goal.

KHEPHREN THURAM - 5.5. I'm gonna be a little critical of Thuram here, because the start to his day was rough. He made several unforced errors, giving away possession very cheaply in the early minutes. He was a rock defensively, though, and led the team with five clearances.

MANUEL LOCATELLI - 8. After his stinker over the weekend, Loca was at his absolute best this time around. Defensively he combined for six tackles and four clearances, and he also blocked a pair of shots. On the other end his passing made the team tick when it was in possession, racking up a pair of key passes.

FRANCISCO CONCEIÇAÓ - 5.5. Another one I'm gonna be a bit more critical of, as he got a little tunnel-visioned and tried to do things on his own way too much. He's incredibly shifty, but needs to know when he's sucking defenders into his orbit so he can find the open man later on.

TEUN KOOPMEINERS - 6. Did a lot more in the defensive phase than he did attacking. He registered three tackles and really helped keep Gündogan quiet in midfield.

KENAN YILDIZ - 7. Dangerous whenever he got onto the ball. Provided a peach of an assist for Vlahovic's goal and went ever so close to scoring their first goal with that great shot in the first half.

DUSAN VLAHOVIC - 7. Did a lot of good things with his movement, and obviously the goal was excellent. Deserved that after some of his injury.

SUBS

WESTON McKENNIE - 7.5. What an absolutely sparkling goal, reminiscent of that signature win at Camp Nou for Andrea Pirlo four years ago.

TIMOTHY WEAH - 7. Was great when he came on and injected his ball to Weston was feathery.

SAMUEL MBANGULA - NR. On as fresh legs up front, but nothing else big came his way.

DOUGLAS LUIZ - NR. On to see things through late.

MANAGER ANALYSIS

I admit, I thought Juventus could — indeed would — win the game by using their physical edge in midfield to take more possession, expecting big things out of the young Portuguese. That didn't really happen; Juve defended well and countered clinically to get themselves their all the way up to 14th in the standings. Clearly Motta knew what he was going to do, and he did how he was going to do.

Most everything that Motta did wrong over the weekend against Bologna he did right here. Di Gregorio proved just how vital he is against the press, and Motta's vaunted passing game poked its head out as the game went on and Juve began to play out of the press with much more frequency.

Was it just a good night? Was everyone locked in with Pep Guardiola on the other sideline? Or have the players finally started developing the familiarity of the system and chemistry with each other needed to start looking like the team we all thought we were getting under Motta.

Now the question is what Juve does with it from here. Will they be able to turn this into a run that gets the season back on track? Only time will tell.

LOOKING AHEAD

Juve will host Venezia on Saturday in the late kickoff, then take on Cagliari on Tuesday in the Coppa Italia. If this is truly a momentum-moving win, they simply must take control and get the maximum out of the two matches to put themselves back on an upward trajectory.