Juve mortgaged qualification, Atalanta came close to the feat but in the end surrendered to CR7. It was supposed to be an evening of great emotions and it actually was, for better or for worse. The cover belongs to Allegri's bianconeri, capable of conquering St. Petersburg with the house specialty, namely the 1-0. We are four in a row with yesterday's, which confirms the coach's ability to influence the team: this lady, in fact, is increasingly in her image and likeness, focused 100% on results, with many greetings to those who think that frills are more important than substance.
Of course, something more will be needed in the long run, because it's unthinkable to go on for the whole season without conceding a goal, but in the meantime the team has found solidity again, results and trust. As well as a foot and a half in the Champions League round of XNUMX, which could prove to be a great advantage between November and December, when Juve will be able to concentrate its forces solely and exclusively on the championship.
Yesterday's victory against Zenit has mortgaged the passage of the round, so much so that Allegri could already celebrate the finish line in the next round against the Russians: that evening it will be enough not to lose to have the mathematical certainty of qualification. All of this was made possible by a careful match, well managed overall, even if stingy with offensive actions: just think that the final scorecard reads only 2 shots on goal, one by McKennie saved by Kritsyuk and the header by Kulusevski (86'), decisive for the final 1-0. Solidity, organization and a lot of patience, here is Max's recipe for getting Juventus back up, with the awareness that, sooner or later, the right opportunity to hurt will come. The work is certainly not the most glamorous, but it works well and the demonstration is given by the newfound performance of some players, above all De Sciglio, decisive with a winning assist for the second time in a few days.
“Excellent result, in fifteen days we can play for qualification – commented by Allegri -. We didn't have a good performance, we were too slow, we need to improve in possession and make better choices, even in defence. I don't like saying that this is my Juventus, I have an important squad but we played badly today, we take the result above all else. Now we can think of Inter, we get there after a good win and a bad performance: the perfect mix to be angry and try to play a good match”.
All the opposite ofAtalanta, which he takes home from Old Trafford lots of applause but zero points. Let's be clear, the group remains very open and the Goddess, second at 4 on a par with Villarreal, has already eliminated the most difficult away games, yet there is a lot of regret for how the match went, in the light of a perfect first half which foreshadowed a historic feat.
However, Gasperini's team could not stand the distance, partly due to the injury of Demiral, man of the match up until then, who went on to enrich the already very long list of absentees, a lot due to United's boundless squad, capable of playing very heavy jokers throughout the game (just think that Pogba, Cavani and Sancho entered in the second half). And so, after the first splendid 45' concluded on 0-2 thanks to goals from Pasalic (15') and Demiral (29'), there followed as many in which the Red Devils dominated, turning the result upside down like a sock with goals from Rashford (53'), Maguire (75') and Cristiano Ronaldo (81'), not to mention the numerous saves by Musso.
“At a certain point we believed it, one episode is enough with these teams, they put in a lot of forwards and we missed the 3-1 goal that would have ended the game – Gasperini's disconsolate analysis -. We came close, it was a good opportunity, a little more physicality, in addition to the absent ones, would have helped us. However we did our best, now it's the second leg and we've seen that we can play it. We shoot with 4 points in a difficult group, we can try until the end".
Now it will take a good reset for focus on the championship, ready to go live with a 3-day tour de force in a week: Juventus and Atalanta, albeit with different assumptions, are more or less in the same situation, of those who need to score points to climb a ranking that is still far from the assumptions initials.
