Juventus player ratings vs Lokomotiv Moscow: Douglas Costa sends Juve to knockout stages

Rodrigo Bentancur 7/10

Rodrigo Bentancur wasn’t able to do much when he subbed in as Juve’s trequartista, but once Douglas Costa subbed in and allowed Bentancur to slide back into the midfield, he played very well. He was strong on the defensive end, which allowed Juve to dominate possession down the

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stretch. Bentancur should be allowed to occupy this defensive role more often and could be a very valuable asset to Juve there.

Douglas Costa 9/10

I singled out Douglas Costa being included in the starting lineup as one of the things Juve needed to do to win this match and he absolutely showed why I felt that way in the 93rd minute. That run was absolutely incredible and saved Juve from finally suffering the consequences of a stretch of very poor performances. Costa might not be fit to start yet, which would make the decision not to start him here make a lot more sense, but as soon as he is ready to play a full match, Juve needs to put him in the starting lineup.

Paulo Dybala 6/10

This was a short appearance for Paulo Dybala, who was struggling with a stomach bug. He only managed to get 6 touches during his time on the field, so it is difficult to expect too much from him in the match. With a few days to recover from his illness, I expect to see him have a much bigger part to play on Sunday.

Manager: Maurizio Sarri 5/10

We are now two and a half months into this season and Juve is playing the worst we’ve seen all year. That falls on Sarri. He continues to start Sami Khedira, who has no purpose on the field. I also don’t understand his decision to start to start Daniele Rugani when he has Merih Demiral available. The rest of his sub-optimal decisions likely come down to fitness issues and Paulo Dybala’s illness and I actually did like his decision to use Adrien Rabiot in the midfield instead of Blaise Matuidi. He got his substitutions right again in this match and that’s why Juve ended up winning.

However, Juve didn’t deserve to win this match and I’m still on the fence as to whether or not they deserved to outright lose. It is problematic for Juve to regularly play this poorly this far into the season. Sarri needs to start getting better performances out of this team or the season could turn around very quickly. A Sunday match against a disastrous Milan team could be the perfect time to test some changes.