Juventus player ratings vs Cagliari: Ronaldo starts new decade with a hat trick

LB: Alex Sandro 6.5/10

I bet you can guess what my complaint about Alex Sandro was in this match. As usual, he was fine on the defensive end even though he didn’t have much to do. However, he was essentially non-existent for the attack aside from one really bad shot. Juve is still missing something at this point in the season and I think it’s reliable attacking help from Sandro.

CB: Merih Demiral 7/10

Merih Demiral was the most surprising name I had to include in this article. I figured Matthijs de Ligt would get the first start of the new year, but it looks like Demiral’s strong finish to 2019 got him another start. He didn’t give Sarri any reason to regret that decision in this match as he was strong at the back for Juve and even nearly scored a header. This position is getting tougher to predict, but Demiral might just be playing well enough at this point to keep a starting spot in this squad.

CB: Leonardo Bonucci 7/10

This was a pretty standard match for Leonardo Bonucci. He was solid whenever called upon, although he was called upon less than usual in this match. He also distributed the ball well and continues to thrive in his role as captain in Giorgio Chiellini’s absence.

RB: Juan Cuadrado 7/10

Juan Cuadrado was definitely the better of Juve’s fullbacks in this match. While Alex Sandro didn’t really contribute to the attack, Cuadrado was extremely active in the attack and seemed to constantly have the ball early in the match. He wasn’t able to turn his involvement into very much, but just having that threat on his side of the field meant that he had a bigger impact on the match than Sandro.