Match Coverages
Juventus 1-0 Sporting: Player Ratings
Juventus have won the first leg of the Europa League Quarter-Final against Sporting Lisbon 1-0. Federico Gatti crowned his Man of the Match worthy performance with a goal. Max Statman gives you a quick rundown and the ratings.
After a slow start, Juventus started to create some opportunities. Ángel Di Maria picked out Federico Chiesa with a great long ball. The Italian winger controlled it well and cut inside. His shot was good, but so was the save by Antonio Adan. The Bianconeri didn’t continue to create chances, so Sporting came forward.
Wojciech Szczęsny was called into action after Sebastián Coates headed the ball towards goal following a corner. The Polish goalkeeper was alert and pushed it away. Shortly after, he made another save at the near post.
Just past the half hour mark, Filip Kostić bailed Juventus out with a goalline clearance. The first half was overshadowed my the sudden chest pain of Szczęsny, who had to come off immediately in tears. Later, it became known that he was checked at the Stadium and that he is ok.
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The second half can be explained in one word: awful. Juventus were very flat and a gameplan seemed nowhere to be found. Almost nothing really happened. After 73 minutes, Juventus finally broke the deadlock and put some life into the game. Substitute Dušan Vlahović headed the ball towards goal after Adan misjudged the cross. The Serbian’s attempt was saved on the line, but Federico Gatti was alert and put the ball in the net.
Just before the final whistle, Mattia Perin managed to secure Juventus lead with an insane double save. The Bianconeri can be really, really happy with a goalkeeper with such qualities as a back-up.
Gatti’s goal proved to be the decisive one in the end, which means the Bianconeri travel to Lisbon with a 1-0 lead next week.
Player Ratings
Szczęsny (7); Gatti (7.5), Bremer (6.5), Danilo (6.5); Cuadrado (5), Locatelli (5), Rabiot (5.5), Kostić (5.5); Di Mari (6), Milik (5), Chiesa (6.5).
Substitutes: Perin (7.5), Vlahović (6), Fagioli (6), Pogba (-), Paredes (-).
