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Juventus player ratings vs Bayer Leverkusen: Higuain carries Juve through rough start

By John Vaccaro

JUVENTUS STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY - 2019/10/01: Gonzalo Higuain of Juventus FC scores a goal during the UEFA Champions League football match between Juventus FC and Bayer Leverkusen. Juventus FC won 3-0 over Bayer Leverkusen. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
JUVENTUS STADIUM, TURIN, ITALY - 2019/10/01: Gonzalo Higuain of Juventus FC scores a goal during the UEFA Champions League football match between Juventus FC and Bayer Leverkusen. Juventus FC won 3-0 over Bayer Leverkusen. (Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images) /
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TURIN, ITALY – OCTOBER 01: Wojciech Szczesny goalkeeper of Juventus in action during the UEFA Champions League group D match between Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen at Juventus Arena on October 1, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Filippo Alfero – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY – OCTOBER 01: Wojciech Szczesny goalkeeper of Juventus in action during the UEFA Champions League group D match between Juventus and Bayer Leverkusen at Juventus Arena on October 1, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Filippo Alfero – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) /

Juventus is officially the leader in Group D.

They needed to survive a sloppy first half to claim their first Champions League win of the season, but Juventus was able to convincingly beat Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday.

Juve came out looking sluggish and less sharp than usual, but they still managed to get an early goal, seemingly from nowhere. Leverkusen’s defense was unable to clear a long ball from Juan Cuadrado in the 17th minute and Gonzalo Higuain was able to settle the botched clearance with one touch and bury a shot in the far corner. That unfortunately failed to spark Juve as they went back to struggling to create chances for the rest of the half and went to halftime leading 1-0.

It would take Juve 16 minutes from the second half kickoff to get their second goal. Gonzalo Higuain found Cristiano Ronaldo in space on the left wing, who played the ball back to Higuain, who then played a cross into the box that Ronaldo missed, but Federico Bernardeschi was able to get on the end of and beat Leverkusen’s goalie.

It would take another 17 minutes for substitute Paulo Dybala to find Cristiano Ronaldo in the box. After squandering a couple of other promising chances, Ronaldo finally made this one count and gave Juve the 3-0 lead that they would hold until the final whistle.

GK: Wojciech Szczesny 6.5/10

It was yet another easy day for Wojciech Szczesny. He didn’t actually need to make a save during this match, but he distributed the ball well from the back and didn’t make any mistakes. He’ll remain Juve’s first-choice keeper and he’ll certainly have more work to do in Milan on Sunday.

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