Juventus player ratings vs Lazio: Cancelo saves the day
By John Vaccaro
Giorgio Chiellini 6.5/10
Giorgio Chiellini was forced into action on his day off when Bonucci got injured, but it was probably a match he should’ve started anyway. He looked unprepared early on in his appearance and played sloppily for a stretch of the match. He got better in the second half, but it wasn’t a particularly good performance from Chiellini. He’ll get a chance to make up for it when he plays from the start of Wednesday’s match.
Federico Bernardeschi 7.5/10
Federico Bernardeschi has been extremely impressive over these last two matches and on Sunday Juventus wouldn’t have been able to win without him. He played great once he came onto the field and started the team’s second half turnaround. It was his cross that led to Cancelo’s goal and he was a threat from the second he got onto the field. Bernardeschi showed again on Sunday that Juventus has way too much talent on the right wing for Paulo Dybala to start.
Joao Cancelo 9/10
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If there was any doubt that acquiring Joao Cancelo for 40 million euros was the best piece of business Juventus did this summer I think this match should remove those doubts. Cancelo had already established himself as the best right back in Serie A and has an argument that he has surpassed Alex Sandro as the best full back in the league. More importantly though, he has made it clear that he is one of Juve’s most important players. He should receive most of the credit for Juve’s win against Lazio. He scored the equalizing goal and then drew the penalty that gave them the lead. That’s about as impressive as it gets in 26 minutes of playing time. Hopefully he can stay healthy for the rest of the season because Juve will need him out there for the Champions League.
Massimiliano Allegri 9/10
Massimiliano Allegri was put in a tough spot for this match. With Mandzukic and Pjanic unavailable and Cancelo only available off the bench the squad needed quite a bit of rotation. The lineup that led to was not particularly good. The only change that Allegri could have made to it that would have improved things would have been starting Chiellini over Rugani. Other than that the subs he made were perfect and his adjustments with Cancelo and Bernardeschi rescued Juve.
It wasn’t a great day for Juventus, but Allegri was at his best in the second half.