Analysis: How Will Juventus Cope Without Giorgio Chiellini?
By Ryan Wrenn
Juventus’ main defender has succumbed to injury and will now miss the showdown against Barcelona. Ryan Wrenn explores what that means for the Bianconeri…
With Giorgio Chiellini ruled out of Saturday’s Champions League final, what can we expect from Juventus’ defense in what will be their trickiest game of the season?
Chiellini’s been at Juventus for longer than any player other than keeper Gianluigi Buffon. He’s stuck with the club through the Calciopoli scandal that resulted in relegation to Serie B and their 2005 and 2006 titles being stripped. His absence from the Champions League final will feel like a symbolic as well as tactical loss to the Italian side competing to complete their treble.
The Italian international has shown little signs of slowing down in his 30th year. He’s featured 39 times in all competitions and put up reliably great defense. Far from just covering routes and winning tackles, Chiellini’s become a vital part of the build up play that has come to define Juventus. According to WhoScored’s stats, Chiellini’s 87.3% passing success rate is the best of any player at Juve with over two thousand minutes this season. That doesn’t necessarily tell the full story though. Take a look at Chiellini’s contributions in the second leg of the semifinal against Real Madrid according to FourFourTwo’s StatsZone:
His passes aren’t limited to simple clearances, though he had many of those as well. He pushes up from his position a left center-back and feeds into the midfield. The most common recipient of his passes in that game wasn’t Andrea Pirlo, which you might expect given the midfielder’s role as dynamo. Instead, it was Paul Pogba. In possession Chiellini functions a little like an inside left back, actively advancing play forward and contributing to the initial phases of attack. He’s allowed to do this mostly due to the often tremendous efforts of his fellow center back, Leonardo Bonucci, who plays a simpler but no less vital game in covering for Juve’s forward push.
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For all his sterling performances in defense, Chiellini’s also displayed a tendency to commit some potentially disastrous errors. His slip in the first leg of the Champions League knockout round game against Borussia Dortmund allowed the German side to level, and he conceded the penalty converted by Cristiano Ronaldo in the second leg of the Madrid tie. Both of those errors were forgotten as later Juve goals made them irrelevant, but the fact remains that they were goals that might not have happened were it not for the Chiellini’s errors.
Of course, being the last line of defense often means that your mistakes are more subject to being ruthlessly punished. Chiellini’s great season has rightfully not been sullied by those errors. The same cannot be said about his understudy and likely starter in his stead Saturday, Angelo Ogbonna. Over 22 starts this season, Ogbonna has gotten slightly better than decent ratings by most metrics. He’s often criticized for a lack of concentration, an accusation that isn’t completely unfounded but is often overblown.
Consider his contributions in Juventus’ game against Napoli a few weeks ago, again thanks to FourFourTwo’s Staszone:
Napoli isn’t quite on the same level of Madrid’s offensive juggernaut (cheers, Rafa), but the above map shows how closely Ogbonna can mimic Chiellini’s influence. Again, he’s interested in keeping the ball moving forward into attack. Indeed, though he racked up less minutes this season in all competitions, his passing success rate of 88.8% actually exceeds Chiellini’s. If anything, his defensive efforts also outmatch Chiellini’s between the two games, winning balls via tackles outside the eighteen yard box. That relatively unimportant game might have been the highlight of Ogbonna’s season, but it at least suggests that he’s capable of filling Chiellini’s boots.
Juve’s best hope Saturday is to do exactly what Chiellini – and Ogbonna – do best: transition from defense into attack as quickly as possible with some deft passing. It’s no easy thing to mark midfielders like Pogba and Arturo Vidal, particularly for an opposing midfield as relatively light as Barcelona’s, so it will be vital for Ogbonna and the defense to find them early and often.
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Defending against Barcelona is a much bigger ask. Ogbonna’s left center back role means he’ll be at least partially responsible for marking Lionel Messi. Assuming such a thing is even possible, it might take away from his ability to connect defense and midfield. If Allegri’s past history against Barcelona is any indication, he has a plan to keep Ogbonna in the game while also – perhaps desperately – attempting to contain Messi.
There’s no doubt that on Saturday Barcelona will present the toughest test any central defender can expect to see in the modern game. A veteran like Chiellini must rue missing out on such an opportunity. But Juve must press on. They lose out not only on Chiellini’s consistent and impressive talents, but also his less tangible influence of the game. Along with Buffon and Marchisio, he is the pride of a club for which Saturday’s game represents the culmination of a rebuild that began with the fallout from Calciopoli. It’s no easy task to take over for such a figure, but Ogbonna could very well be Juve’s best hope to do just that.