Juventus player ratings vs Sassuolo: Shocking de Ligt and Buffon errors costly for Juve
By John Vaccaro
Juventus was bound to pay for their poor play eventually.
Sunday was the day there were finally consequences. Juve’s draw against Sassuolo allow Inter Milan to pass them for first place in Serie A.
Early on, it looked like Juve would be able to claim all 3 points from the match. Gonzalo Higuain was once again in great form and looked like he was going to either create or score a goal in the first half for Juve. Unfortunately, Emre Can squandered the perfect opportunity Higuain set up for him. Juve would still get a first half goal though, when Rodrigo Bentancur played a ball in front of Leonardo Bonucci just outside the box and Bonucci placed it perfectly in the far corner. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t take long for Sassuolo to equalize.
Just 2 minutes later, Jeremie Boga would find space on the right wing and chip the ball over a poorly positioned Gianluigi Buffon to equalize the match. The match would go to halftime tied at 1.
It took only 2 minutes in the second half for disaster to strike Juve. Matthijs de Ligt passed a ball directly to Francesco Caputo at the edge of the box, which Caputo would then shoot directly at Gianluigi Buffon. Unfortunately, the ball slipped right through Buffon’s hands and into the goal to give Sassuolo the lead.
In the 68th minute, Paulo Dybala was fouled inside the box to give Juve a chance to equalize. Cristiano Ronaldo stepped up to the spot and easily beat Sassuolo’s keeper to tie the match. The match would end tied at 2, costing Juve 2 valuable points.
GK: Gianluigi Buffon 1/10
I never thought there would be a time in my life that I had to give Gianluigi Buffon a grade like this, but he was absolutely abysmal against Sassuolo. It wasn’t just the horrible second goal where the ball slipped through his hands and rolled into Juve’s net, but his positioning also wasn’t great on the first goal. I’ve seen Buffon play in hundreds of matches of matches in my lifetime and I can’t remember another where he played so poorly.