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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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Juan Cuadrado (L) of Juventus disputes the ball with Jose Luis Gaya of Valencia during the UEFA Champions League match between Juventus and Valencia CF at Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin, Italy on November 27, 2018 (Photo by Jose Breton/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Juan Cuadrado (L) of Juventus disputes the ball with Jose Luis Gaya of Valencia during the UEFA Champions League match between Juventus and Valencia CF at Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin, Italy on November 27, 2018 (Photo by Jose Breton/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /

Juan Cuadrado 7/10

Cuadrado was brought on early in relief of Alex Sandro and he performed admirably at right back. Yes, he was still a liability on defense at times, but he also put in a valiant effort, making 4 tackles and 2 interceptions. I’m sure Massimiliano Allegri would’ve preferred to have Mattia De Sciglio available for this substitution, but Cuadrado did about as well as he could’ve hoped.

Douglas Costa 6/10

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As is usually the case when Juve subs on a wing in the second half, Douglas Costa didn’t have much of a chance to make an impact on this match. For the 16 minutes Costa was on the field Juve was mostly just killing time and holding onto their lead. This was really just another cameo appearance for Costa.

Manager: Massimiliano Allegri  8/10

Massimiliano Allegri’s job should’ve been pretty easy against Valencia. He had 3 central midfielders available who weren’t Sami Khedira, Medhi Benatia was rested over the weekend, and he had multiple options available on the right wing. Unfortunately, only one of those things led to Allegri making the right decision. I say this pretty often, but Paulo Dybala shouldn’t be playing on the right wing. It’s not his preferred position and Juve has better options available to start there. The other poor choice was starting Bonucci over Benatia. Bonucci hasn’t played particularly well since rejoining Juventus while Benatia’s great form that made him regular starter last season has continued. However, he responded well to needing to take Sandro off at halftime.

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Overall, Juventus got the win (even if it was more difficult than it should’ve been) and for that reason Allegri still deserves a B.

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