Juventus player ratings vs AC Milan: Mandzukic and Ronaldo deliver for Juve

Sami Khedira 6.5/10

Khedira was actually a positive introduction for Juventus in this match. He was brought on with his main responsibility being to maintain a lead, a job he is still capable of performing. During his short time on the field he passed the ball well and gave the Juve defense some more cover. This is a role we should see Khedira in more often.

Douglas Costa 6/10

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Douglas Costa is in a weird position right now. He’s a better wing than Dybala, but Allegri insists on starting Dybala over all of his options on the right wing. This leaves the likes of Costa, Cuadrado, and Bernardeschi trying to impress in short cameos in matches where Juve is holding onto a lead. Costa didn’t get the chance to inject his flair into the match due to the match situation upon his entry. Maybe he’ll get his starting spot back eventually.

Manager: Massimiliano Allegri 9.5/10

Let’s start with why I deducted half of a point from Allegra’s rating. I simply can’t give him a perfect score for a match where Dybala starts on the wing. There are better options that are being wasted in every match where Allegri makes that decision. However, Allegri got everything else right in this match. Leonardo Bonucci has been a defensive liability lately and having to go back to Milan probably wasn’t going to help him with his issues.

Benching him was absolutely the right move, especially since Benatia has played well again this season. Starting Bentancur over Khedira should give Juve fans hope that maybe we won’t see much of Khedira in big matches for the rest of the season.

Maybe the reason Allegri was still starting him before his injury was because he just didn’t have enough faith in Bentancur or Emre Can to start yet. He should be able to trust Bentancur for the rest of the season with the way he’s playing.

I’m usually Allegri’s biggest critic, but he did too good of a job to feel anything but positive about his management of this match.