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Juventus hosted Atletico Madrid on match-day 5 of the 2019-20 Champions League in Turin. The hosts had most of the ball possession in the first half as they constantly tried to break down a resilient Atletico Madrid defence. Juventus were constantly working the ball around. Their attacks were largely concentrated on the flanks.
However, crosses were defended very well by the Atletico Madrid defenders. They won every header against the hosts' strikers. The midfielders did a solid job for Diego Simeone as they shielded the back four. As a result, Juventus were forced to work the ball wide.
The Bianconeri then won a free-kick at the end of the first half in injury time. The angle seemed narrow for a direct shot at goal. Paulo Dybala, however, had other ideas and went for goal and succeeded in giving the home side a well-deserved lead.
Atletico started the second half on a different note. They didn't allow Juventus to play from the back as easily as they did in the first half. Constant pressure was applied by the Spanish side. As a result, the Old Lady misplaced a lot of passes, thereby gifting possession to the Los Rojiblancos.
So, let's take a look at the 4 players who were hits and flops from the game:
#4 Hit: Felipe
The only reason why Juventus weren't ahead by two or three goals at the end of the first half was due to Felipe's defensive master class. He was a constant presence in the box for Atletico and won every cross that came his way. Apart from his aerial presence, the Brazilian was assured in his defending of shots, passes and one on one situations throughout the match.
Atletico were pretty solid defensively throughout the match. During the second half, they played higher up the pitch in search of an equalizer. This resulted in occasional Juventus counter-attacks which were dealt with by Felipe. However, Atletico and Felipe fell to the brilliance of Dybala at the end of the day. The Brazilian won 2 tackles and made 2 clearances along with winning 6 aerial duels.
#3 Hit: Matthijs de Ligt
After having a slow start to life at the Allianz Stadium, Matthijs De Ligt put in a performance to remember against Atletico Madrid. If not for Paulo Dybala's heroics, the Netherlands international would've been the man of the match. Towards the very end of the game, he made a goal-saving tackle to deny Atletico an opportunity to equalize.
Defensively, the new summer signing made a total of two tackles along with one interception and four clearances. He gave away one foul and made a total of four blocks. His passing accuracy was 83.8%. Furthermore, he won four aerial duels, which was the most by any Juventus player.
#2 Flop: Mario Hermoso
While Felipe was brilliant throughout the game, his defensive partner Mario Hermoso wasn't so assuring and good. The defender was rash in his challenges and gave away 2 free kicks with one of those being converted by Dybala.
Impact wise, those fouls turned out to be the turning point of the game. The Spanish was often found out of position and won only one duel. He didn't win any tackle throughout the game. He won only one aeriel duel as compared to his defensive partner's six. All in all, Hermoso had a performance to forget.
#1 Hit: Paulo Dybala
Today's match was about Dybala showing his creativity and putting on a show for Juventus even against a stubborn Atletico defence. The Argentine was constantly involved for Maurizio Sarri's side and linked up the midfield with attack. The Argentine had a role to play in every attacking situation for Juventus.
He scored the decisive goal of the match through a sublime free-kick, quite similar to the one Toni Kroos scored at the World Cup for Germany against Sweden. Apart from the match-winning goal, the Argentine had three shots on goal with two of them on target. His passing accuracy was 84% and he had 74 touches of the ball.
