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Juventus player ratings vs Valencia: Mario Mandzukic sends Juve through to knockout stages

By John Vaccaro

Juventus' Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic (L) shoots to open the scoring past Valencia's Brazilian goalkeeper Neto (R) during the UEFA Champions League group H football match Juventus vs Valence on November 27, 2018 at the Juventus stadium in Turin. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo credit should read MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images)
Juventus' Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic (L) shoots to open the scoring past Valencia's Brazilian goalkeeper Neto (R) during the UEFA Champions League group H football match Juventus vs Valence on November 27, 2018 at the Juventus stadium in Turin. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photo credit should read MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images) /
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TURIN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 27: Rodrigo Bentancur of Juventus competes for the ball with Gonzalo Guedes of Valencia during the Group H match of the UEFA Champions League between Juventus and Valencia at Allianz Stadium on November 27, 2018 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Giorgio Perottino – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 27: Rodrigo Bentancur of Juventus competes for the ball with Gonzalo Guedes of Valencia during the Group H match of the UEFA Champions League between Juventus and Valencia at Allianz Stadium on November 27, 2018 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Giorgio Perottino – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) /

CM: Miralem Pjanic 7/10

This match didn’t quite live up to the lofty standard Miralem Pjanic set the last time Juve played Valencia. In fact, Ronaldo and Cancelo basically made Pjanic unnecessary in this match. Pjanic did manage to play a couple of passes that looked like they could be dangerous, but for the most part Juve’s attack was focused on attacking from the wings. He made a decent defensive contribution, but that’s really the job of the other two midfielders. Saturday’s match gave us hope that the old Pjanic was coming back, but he failed to build on that in this match.

CM: Rodrigo Bentancur 7.5/10

Rodrigo Bentancur has been Juve’s most improved player this season. Over the course of a few months he has gone from struggling to work his into the starting lineup to being a player Juve can depend on in the Champions League. He made 3 tackles and 3 interceptions in the match and even put his moves on display to start a Juve counterattack. We saw his improvement begin during the World Cup, but this match was the culmination of it all. After today’s performance, Juve should feel pretty comfortable with the future of their midfield.

CM: Blaise Matuidi 7/10

Blaise Matuidi once again battled his fatigue to put in an efficient performance for Juve. As usual, he didn’t make a huge impact on the attack, but he was able to disrupt the Valencia attack throughout the match. He made 4 tackles in the match in yet another high-effort performance. It wasn’t anything special, but it was what Matuidi does and hopefully it will earn him a rest soon.

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