Juventus player ratings vs Roma: Douglas Costa shreds Roma defense

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TURIN, ITALY – JANUARY 22: Douglas Costa of Juventus during the Italian Coppa Italia match between Juventus v AS Roma at the Allianz Stadium on January 22, 2020 in Turin Italy (Photo by Mattia Ozbot/Soccrates/Getty Images) /

LW: Cristiano Ronaldo 8.5/10

I’m seriously running out of ways to make it sound like I’m not just repeating myself when I talk about Cristiano Ronaldo. He opened the scoring in this match with a great finish from a tough angle to bring his tally to 13 goals in his last 10 matches. He has been on a ridiculous hot streak lately and has Juve looking the best they have all year. Let’s see just how far he can stretch this incredible run.

ST: Gonzalo Higuain 5.5/10

This might have been Gonzalo Higuain’s worst match of the season. The saddest part is that it actually had the potential to be another fantastic performance for him. Unfortunately, he squandered a couple of great scoring opportunities, putting a header off the post and then toe poking a shot directly at Roma’s keeper. Then he followed that up by wasting a breakaway opportunity where he had Douglas Costa and Cristiano Ronaldo as options, but instead passed the ball right between the two and straight to a Roma defender. Finally, he hesitated to pull the trigger on a pass on a later counterattack and ended up just dribbling backwards and losing possession. This was a brutal day for Higuain and one that should just about guarantee he’ll remain Paulo Dybala’s backup for a while.

RW: Douglas Costa 9/10

Maurizio Sarri has been put in an interesting situation after these last two Coppa Italia matches. I honestly don’t know what he’s supposed to do with Douglas Costa. He’s been great in his last couple of appearances, scoring a goal and assisting two others. He gave Roma’s defense problems throughout Wednesday’s match. His cross for Bonucci’s header was so perfect that there was at least one more Juventus player who could have scored if Bonucci wasn’t in the right position. He also made a beautiful pass to set up Bentancur’s goal, although Bentancur had a little bit more work to do for his goal than Bonucci did. I’m not really sure how Juve can use him the rest of the way. He has been great on the wing, but Juve can’t use wingers when they start Dybala. He is also competing with Aaron Ramsey for a spot in the starting lineup. I’m curious to see how Sarri handles this.

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