A tremendous blow. Juventus returns from Madrid with broken bones and shattered morale, the logical consequences of a very heavy defeat that risks compromising the primary objective of the season. In fact, to go ahead in the Champions League, Atletico will need to score 3 goals without conceding, a real feat after seeing yesterday's match, in which the 2-0 win is even close to the Spaniards. Obviously, the sentence will arrive only in three weeks but the Juve trial has already begun and the main defendant, as always in these cases, is the coach.
In fact, the Bianconeri took the field soft, scared and without ideas, and if absences and a precarious state of form can be a justification, the same is not true for the tactical attitude, defeatist beyond all logic. Massimiliano Allegri, on the eve, had promised a Juve "to score a goal, better still two", on the lawn of the Wanda Metropolitano, however, we saw the exact opposite and certainly not due to the lack of forwards.
The Dybala-Mandzukic-Ronaldo trident announced a battle but after a good start (CR7 free-kick saved by Oblak and Bonucci's header slightly high) it was understood that theirs was going to be a difficult evening, prisoners of the usually excellent Atletico and of a game too sterile to create real problems. A press conference bluff, partially unmasked also by the decision to field De Sciglio for Cancelo: the balance is fine, but it is difficult to think that a Barcelona or Manchester City would ever give up a full-back like the Portuguese.
And if in Italy, more often than not, it is possible to win almost by inertia, this is not the case in Europe, where pace and quality are very high and the tactic of keeping one's head underwater and then suddenly emerging can prove lethal, but in a negative sense. Atletico Madrid for example, while basing their game on defense for years, do not give up on fighting back, they simply choose the right moment to do so.
Yesterday Simeone, the great winner of the match, played cat and mouse and at the beginning of the second half, when he saw the black and white wall shake (sensational opportunities failed by Diego Costa and Griezmann), he gave the decisive push by inserting Morata, Lemar and Correa, increasing the quality of hers and preventing the Lady from any desire for action, assuming she really had any.
The fact that the decisive goals came from the defenders Gimenez (78') and Godin (83'), moreover in the final, is only the right reward for a "cholismo" now inherent in the club's DNA, as well as for a Var that is finally active also in the Champions League (except for an unjustly awarded penalty for a foul by De Sciglio on Diego Costa outside the area and a goal by Morata spoiled by a push on Chiellini).
“We made a mistake in the second half, when they entered a game with no viciousness – Allegri's bitter comment – It can happen, there's great disappointment but we mustn't feel sorry for ourselves. We can turn the game around, we will recover some players, we must have faith. It won't be easy, it will take a great performance, we are not dead. We will have to be better and worse."
This is for sure, because only with a super match will it be possible to remedy yesterday's disaster and get back on track for the Champions League. Appointment at the Stadium on 12 March: that evening, inevitably, we will know exactly what dimensions to give to the Juventus season. Because going out in the round of XNUMX after taking Cristiano Ronaldo would inevitably have the bitter taste of failure.
SECURITY UPDATE TRAINING
After the bad defeat in Madrid, Juventus' stock struggled to enter trading on Piazza Affari this morning, recording a theoretical drop of 13%. Once admitted to trading, the stock was overwhelmed by sales and one hour after opening it dropped by more than nine percentage points, to 1,312 euros. This is the worst performance on the Ftse Mib.
