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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: Juan Cuadrado of Juventus competes for the ball with Kevin Volland of Bayer Leverkusen 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 Daniele Badolato – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images)
TURIN, ITALY – OCTOBER 01: Juan Cuadrado of Juventus competes for the ball with Kevin Volland of Bayer Leverkusen 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 Daniele Badolato – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images) /

LB: Alex Sandro 6.5/10

Remember when I said in the predicted lineup that Alex Sandro would provide the width to the attack that Blaise Matuidi couldn’t? Well, I was very wrong. Alex Sandro was barely involved in the attack and just didn’t have very much to on the defensive end. I’m sure there is a mental factor to him not making an impact in this match and I absolutely can’t fault him for that, but I thought he would have more of an impact in this match. Hopefully he has more to offer against Inter.

CB: Leonardo Bonucci 7/10

Leonardo Bonucci continued his resurgence in this match. Him and Matthijs de Ligt kept the Juve defense impenetrable. He was well positioned throughout the match and played another mistake-free match. At one point, he was even playing alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at one point and then managed to track back before Leverkusen could counter effectively. He might not be Giorgio Chiellini, but he’s been doing one hell of an impression for the last month.

CB: Matthijs de Ligt 7/10

It’s incredible what Matthijs de Ligt is capable of at such a young age. I think it’s pretty clear that Juve’s defense should have gotten worse without Joao Cancelo and Giorgio Chiellini, but the combination of de Ligt and Bonucci has kept the defense playing at a very high level. De Ligt left no space for Leverkusen’s attack to operate in throughout this match. He continues to impress early in his Juve career.

RB: Juan Cuadrado 7.5/10

While most of Juve’s squad was struggling to get anything going the first half against Leverkusen, there were two players who actually managed to threaten Leverkusen in the attacking half. One of those was Juan Cuadrado, who was an absolute nightmare for Wendell to handle on the wing. He was constantly pushing forward to try to create attacking options for Juve and he wasn’t half bad on the other end either. At this point, I’m beginning to think he’s actually an improvement over Danilo at right back.

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