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Juventus hosted Atletico Madrid in one of the marquee matches of matchday 5 of the Champions League and they ran out 1-0 winners in what was an expectedly cagey affair.
The Bianconerri have been in spectacular form this season and are yet to taste defeat in 18 matches in all competitions and came into the fixture in high spirits, having posted an impressive 3-1 victory away to Atalanta over the weekend.
The last time Atletico Madrid visited this stadium, they were on the receiving end of a demoralizing 3-0 defeat inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Simeone would have been wary of the threat posed by the Portuguese icon.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner has, however, been beneath his usual best this season, having struggled with injury concerns and he was some way off the pace in the match, but ultimately, Juventus still did enough, with a first-half injury-time goal by Paulo Dybala enough to hand them all three points.
In this piece, we shall be highlighting three talking points from the Champions League clash at the Juventus Stadium.
#3 Juventus secure top spot in Group D
Juventus secured automatic qualification after defeating Lokomotiv Moscow on matchday 4, but with 10 points, they were just three points ahead of Diego Simone's Atletico Madrid.
A victory for the visitors would have seen both teams equal on points, but the Spanish side would have had the advantage by virtue of their superior head-to-head record.
Juventus needed a win to secure top spot and they did just that, with the three points gotten on the night moving them to 13 points, six points clear of second-placed Atleti with just one round of matches left.
Although there are still some quality teams who could finish second such as Real Madrid, Dortmund, Tottenham, and Chelsea, ostensibly, it is preferable to top a group and avoid the heavy-hitters like Manchester City, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and PSG.
Maurizio Sarri would have wanted to secure top spot to earn a potentially favorable second-round tie and his charges did just that, which would ease the pressure in their last fixture against Bayer Leverkusen.
Also check out: Champions League Schedule Champions League table Champions league top scorers
#2 Atletico Madrid struggles continues
Atletico Madrid have made steady gains in recent years, progressing from being a mid-table team in Spain to one of the genuine heavyweights on the European continent.
A lot of their progress has been down to the output of Diego Simeone and it cannot be denied that the 49-year-old holds a special place in the annals of Atletico Madrid.
However, there has been a level of stagnation about the team in recent years and despite constantly contesting and pushing the elite clubs, Los Colchoneros have simply not been able to get the job done.
Their only major trophies since that magical 2014 season were the Europa League in 2018 and the following UEFA Super Cup, while they have not made it to the quarterfinal of the Champions League since 2017.
This season was supposed to mark the start of a new era at the club, with several key players departing, while the club spent huge sums in the market to rebuild their squad.
Things have, however, not gone to plan for the capital club and they currently find themselves in the midst of a six-match winless run on the road.
Despite the huge outlay to sign Alvaro Morata and Joao Felix, they have struggled massively in front of goal, while they have also lost the ability to protect leads and it was not much of a surprise when the Atletico Madrid players were recently booed on their own patch by their supporters.
Their struggles on the road has left them in the untenable situation of having to defeat Lokomotiv Moscow at home on matchday 6 to secure qualification and while that might not be the most daunting task in the world, Simeone must quickly turn things around if they are to achieve their goals.
#1 Paulo Dybala shows his class again
The last year has been a bit topsy-turvy for Paulo Dybala, as he failed to build on his previous campaigns chiefly due to the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Having scored 23, 19, and 26 goals in each of his first three seasons in Turin, Dybala's output dropped to just 10 in all competitions last term and heading into this campaign, serious speculations were linking the Argentine international away from the club.
Talks, however, broke down with both Manchester United and Tottenham and the former Palermo man was slowly reintegrated back into the Juventus fold.
Cristiano Ronaldo's struggles in recent weeks have increased Dybala's playing time and he showed his class by coming off the bench for the Portuguese star to score the winner in the 1-0 win over AC Milan.
That was followed by another impressive solo goal in the dying minutes of the 3-1 win over Atalanta.
The 26-year-old was unsurprisingly started up front alongside Ronaldo against Atletico and despite Juventus starting the game on the backfoot, their number 10 put them in the driving seat with an exquisite goal in the second minute of first-half stoppage time.
Juventus were awarded a freekick in an acute angle and only players of the very highest quality would have thought of shooting straight at goal.
Dybala is right up there with the best of them and given his form, few would have begrudged him for attempting to score from a difficult angle.
The goal means that he has now scored in his last three games consecutively - while he scored his 10th direct freekick for Juventus and first since March 2018 - and with him in this form, the Italian champions would fancy their chances of coming up against anyone.
