Exclusives
Q&A: Juventini talking over the Derby d’Italia and Dybala’s end at Juve
Juventus supporters from Twitter, @khaledalnouss1, @juveb123 & @JulianJuve_ shared their opinions on significant Bianconeri related themes – the refereeing in Juve-Inter, the Derby d’Italia’s best and worst players and Paulo Dybala’s end at Juventus – in an interview below.
The latest clash between Juventus Turin and Inter Milan was indeed one to forget for Juventini but perhaps one to highlight for the sake of Serie A’s future in terms of quality of officiating. Uncertainty, bad calls and no calls were undoubtedly the highlights of the game on Sunday, as Juventus lost 0:1 in the Derby d’Italia to Inter in a match full of missed chances and poor individual performances. Even though the Old Lady lost the game, and it was hers to lose, the actions and inactions of the referees undoubtedly affected the game.
Hence, what (let’s say) mistakes in the refereeing were, in your opinion, the most game-changing and wrong? Also, who was your player of the match or with which player were you the least satisfied?
@khaledalnouss1: “Overall there was several mistakes on both parties in the first half. Lautaro should have been sent off at the start of the game, Locatelli and also Rabiot were at risk of being sent off. I believe Inter’s penalty was a right call. Zakaria-Bastoni’s incident should have been counted as a penalty. I think Skriniar was the man of the match, great performance from the Slovak. From our side Rabiot was the man of the match, he was our best midfielder also against Villarreal.”
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@juveb123: “We all saw the glaring mistakes that turned the match upside down, so there isn’t much to comment on that. We did finally see a Juve that dominated a match for a full 90 minutes for the first time this season but was super wasteful with Vlahovic and Morata.”
@JulianJuve_: “First of all, I think the ref was horrible overall. Not even in the decisions against Juventus but in everything. For me, there were 3 really big mistakes. The first one was instantly in the first minute the kick from Lautaro in Locatelli’s face should have been a red. He only gave a yellow. Sometime later Lautaro made another big foul on Chiellini and still didn’t get anything. While at that moment Lautaro should have 1000% gotten a red because it was already his second big mistake. The second one was the penalty for Inter. In my opinion, it was too light to give a penalty for. I also still don’t get why they got to retake the penalty. The third one is the foul on Zakaria inside the box. Everyone saw it was a foul, so they also gave a free kick for it, but it was a foul inside the box. We have a VAR but if for things like this it isn’t used I don’t know why we have it. For me, the player of the match was Rabiot. I wouldn’t have thought I would ever say this but he was really strong and steady in the midfield. No mistakes. Also, I wanted to say that Zakaria came on really good when Locatelli got injured.”
There are poor individual as well as team performances mentioned above. Would you agree that what we saw from Juventus at the Allianz Stadium vs the Nerrazzuri was still far from ideal in many different ways, despite the significant number of chances the Bianconeri created?
@khaledalnouss1: “I believe the individual performance from most of our players was average despite the positive performance overall. Allegri did read the game well but I didn’t like the individual performance from many players in the game. Cuadrado was doing well even though I still don’t like his style of play, he is looking much better as a full-back. Danilo & Alex Sandro didn’t offer what we need from them in a close game like this. Vlahovic was alone against three players in most of the situations. In my opinion, we dominated the game but we still didn’t create enough clear-cut chances.”
@juveb123: “As I mentioned I think we saw a positive Juve that wanted to dominate a match at home and were just wasteful up top. As Juve fans we tend to always focus on the negatives, but in this match we really saw a team that wanted to play football with quick vertical passing and constant movement from our wingbacks. I would like to point out how important a player Zakaria can be for us if healthy.”
@JulianJuve_: “For sure, it is far from the perfect style of play yet, but I can see so much improvement since the beginning of the season. This was probably the best match we played this season. We put good pressure going forward and created good chances. Sadly we couldn’t finish them.”
Everything is pointing towards a Paulo Dybala exit in the summer of 2022. His contract is ending, talks of an extension terminated and performances not quite meeting the expectations. The game on Sunday was most probably La Joya’s last Derby d’Italia (at least in a black and white shirt), and Paulo is set to leave Juventus after spending a long period of 7 seasons in Turin.
Do you support the club’s decision to part ways with the Argentine forward, and how right is, in your view, the new adventure for Dybala himself?
@khaledalnouss1: “I support the club’s decision, because I believe if we are going to play with a new formation like 4-3-3 we need more of a winger than Dybala, I also believe Dybala needs a new chapter in his career, Juventus could be limiting his potential lately. Replacing a decisive player like Paulo is never easy though, we have to be careful in the coming market, hopefully we are going to have a style of play or a specific formation under Max next year.”
@juveb123: “Yes I fully support the clubs decision to part ways with Dybala. Dybala is a fantastic player with great talent but unfortunately the same cant be said about him physically. I do not feel the need to replace Dybala especially if Allegri wants to play with 3 up top. I am more than positive Dybala will thrive elsewhere and I believe this is the right time for him to move on.”
@JulianJuve_: “I support the club with the decision, but if they would have decided to renew with Dybala, I would have also been good with it. I totally get why they decided this. Dybala has been injury prone the last few years, so giving him a big salary like what Dybala asked is risky. They can better give it to another player. I love Dybala, and that’s why I also hope a new adventure can do him better. It might be good for him. I just hope that he doesn’t end up in the black and blue.”
Huge thanks to this episode’s interviewed Juventus trio, @khaledalnouss1, @juveb123 & @JulianJuve_ for dedicating their time to answer my questions. Do not forget to drop them a follow and remember to stay tuned for similar Q&A’s at Max Statman.
