Juventus 1 (2) - Sevilla 2 (3): Initial reaction and random observations
There are games in which Max Allegri can be the first person you point the finger at when it comes to Juventus’ struggles. The tactics, the approach, the ultra-defensive setup that prevents Juventus from getting multiple good looks on goal because they’re more interested in protecting the 1-0 lead that they have — it’s all a game of connect the dots that comes back to the guy filling out the starting lineup.
On Thursday night, Juventus was not held back by the man who is the highest paid in his position in Serie A.
Instead, Juventus’ finishing in front of goal was the kind that leaves you wondering what could have been and what should have been.
No matter if it was shots off the post, shots just wide or shots that should have been on goal completely shanked because somebody got too cute with it, Juventus couldn’t take advantage of some of the best scoring chances that either team saw. Because of it, a Dusan Vlahovic second-half goal just after he came on was the only lead Juve could muster as they fell victim to goals from a pair of Serie A exes, Suso and Erik Lamela, that allowed Sevilla to win 2-1 in extra time and 3-2 on aggregate.
It was just that kind of night. A frustrating and aggravating kind of night.
There were moments where Juve had to hang on for dear life both before they scored and after Sevilla scored via Suso to tie things up. If it wasn’t for Wojciech Szczesny and his handful of world-class saves, this would have probably been a much different final score that didn’t need to go into extra time.
But you know what would have also made things different?
If Angel Di Maria just tried the routine rather than trying to chip the keeper and subsequently shanking the hell out of his 1-on-1 chance in the first half. Or if Federico Gatti’s header was a little more to the left or the right and not saved. Or if surprise starter Moise Kean hadn’t seen his shot partially saved and then clang off the post in the first half. Or if Adrien Rabiot had done more with his pair of scoring chances in the second half.
I could probably go on, but I will stop there.
The worry coming into the night was that Allegri would have Juventus sitting so far back and play so conservatively that things would look a lot like the first 45 minutes in Turin last week. Instead, what played out was, honestly, a thrilling game no matter if you had rooting interests or not. It was end to end at times, while others had Juventus pinned back and Szczesny working magic in goal.
Sevilla outshot Juventus 28-17. They had more possession, 59-41.
But, according to SofaScore, Juventus had both the greater number of big chances (3-0) and had a higher xG (1.65) than Sevilla. Sometimes the advanced stats tell the whole story, but there’s a reason why Juve had the best chances of the night — it’s because they did.
They just couldn’t finish them outside of Vlahovic’s goal, one that itself was a very nice finish as he worked his way through the Sevilla defense.
Because of it, Juventus’ run in the Europa League ends at one hell of an atmosphere in Seville. I don’t doubt that there are folks that will say Sevilla were the better team over two legs — they really only played poorly for the second 45 minutes (if that) in Turin — and that is the truth.
Juventus had a chance to win on Thursday night and they couldn’t get it done. As Allegri said after the game, things came down to the details. And when you look at it, that is very much a direct opinion on Juve’s finish in front of goal. You score once or twice more, you’re booking tickets to Budapest and facing one of your biggest Serie A rivals for the Europa League title.
Instead, Juve will be watching from home and now officially realizing a second season without silverware is coming to its final couple of weeks.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
Source: Black & White & Read All Over
