5 most memorable Juventus moments so far this season
By John Vaccaro
Juan Cuadrado’s opener vs Atletico Madrid
There is a lot that goes into why I chose this goal for the list. Obviously, the fact that it was a fantastic finish from Juan Cuadrado is a part of why this goal is so high on the list, but what was going on with the team at the time made this goal more important than the last two.
Juve had fallen on hard times before their Champions League opener against Atletico Madrid. Giorgio Chiellini suffered a long-term knee injury a couple of weeks earlier than meant he wouldn’t be available for the entire group stage. Then, in Juve’s first match after his injury, they blew a 3-0 lead against Napoli before being saved by a Kalidou Koulibaly own goal. Then they came back from the international break with 0-0 draw against Fiorentina. Everything that happened in the lead-up to this match had some fans (myself included) wondering if Juve was actually capable of competing with Atletico in Madrid.
Then Cuadrado struck. On a counterattack, Gonzalo Higuain played a great ball across the top of the box to Cuadrado, but there was still a lot of work to do to turn it into a chance. Cuadrado cut inside and then surprised everybody when he put his left foot through the ball and buried it in the far corner of the goal, giving Jan Oblak no chance to make the save.
The goal lifted Juve and gave them the confidence to get the second goal that would help them secure an away draw, which many saw as a positive sign. The match showed that Juve could still compete against the world’s best even without their captain. Cuadrado’s goal made all of that possible.