Juventus player ratings vs Roma: Douglas Costa shreds Roma defense
By John Vaccaro
Juventus is officially better than they were last year in at least one competition.
Last season, they were embarrassingly eliminated by Atalanta in the Coppa Italia quarterfinals in a match where they barely put up a fight. On Wednesday, they managed to get by Roma to advance to this year’s semifinals.
It took them a little while to get going in the first half, but once they found their groove Roma had no answer. It was Cristiano Ronaldo who found that groove for them in the 26th minute. He collected a Gonzalo Higuain pass on the left wing to make a long run toward Roma’s penalty area, cut inside, and perfectly put the ball inside the far post from a tough angle.
12 minutes later, some nice passing between Douglas Costa and Rodrigo Bentancur set Bentancur up with a chance to score. Roma made a tackle on him once he was inside the box, but he managed to get the ball back and poke it inside the post.
Just before the half, Costa would once again prove to be a difference maker. Off of a free kick, he curled a ball into the box, over the top of the Roma defense. It put both Leonardo Bonucci and Higuain in position to score without a Roma defender within yards. Bonucci would be the one to benefit as headed the ball past Roma’s keeper to send Juve to halftime with a 3-0 lead.
Roma would try to mount a comeback in the second half. Cengiz Under got the ball on the right wing and cut inside. With nobody stepping up to pressure him, he blasted a shot goalward that ended up bouncing off the bottom of the crossbar, off the back of Gianluigi Buffon’s arm and into the goal. However, that would be the end of Roma’s comeback and Juve advanced with a 3-1 win.
GK: Gianluigi Buffon 8.5/10
This will probably be the highest grade I ever give a keeper in a match where they scored an own goal . That’s partially because the own goal had way more to do with terrible luck and poor defending than any mistake Gianluigi Buffon made. It’s also because he was great outside of that one bad moment. He made a few fantastic saves in the second half of this match and helped to stop Roma’s comeback efforts. This was a fantastic match for Buffon and a great lead-up to whenever his record-breaking match is going to come.