Insufficient for De Ligt after Juventus’ heaviest defeat ever in the CL

Wednesday, November 24, 2021 at 09:00• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

Juventus suffered their worst defeat ever in the Champions League against Chelsea on Tuesday evening. Juventus’ biggest losses ever dated back to Tuesday in 2009/10, a 4-1 defeat to Bayern Munich, and 2016/17, a 4-1 defeat to Real Madrid, but the Italians have never fallen through the lower line as much as they did at Stamford Bridge: 4-0. The criticism of Juventus by the Italian media is therefore not tender, partly because Massimiliano Allegri made it clear prior to the game that first or second place did not matter.

‘Shameless’, headline Tuttosport. The Turin newspaper is talking about a surrender. “Juventus’s game was not to be seen.” According to Corriere dello Sport there was talk of ‘a small Juventus’ on Tuesday evening, that of La Gazetta dello Sport received a four as a collective. “Chelsea wanted to show on this evening why it is the reigning Champions League winner. We played a good first half, but after the break we were less vigilant and we paid the price for that,” Allegri said afterwards in London.

“There were times when we lost the ball too easily by going too fast for the vertical pass. We did that too often and we have to work on that, because that cannot be done against the champion of Europe. It has become clear that we as a team also have our limitations.” Juventus had already secured their winter break in the Champions League, but are now dependent on Chelsea for top spot in Group H. Both teams have 12 points, but the head-to-head result is in favor of the Londoners. The first meeting between the teams in Turin was still a prey for Juventus: 1-0.

“This was a heavy defeat that we have to learn from. We played against a great team that punished every little mistake we made. This certainly hurts, but we still have to look ahead. We can’t do this match again,” emphasized Leonardo Bonucci in turn. Chelsea led only 1-0 at half time after Trevoh Chalobah scored from close range after a corner from Hakim Ziyech. After the break, Ziyech was important with preparatory work at the 2-0 by Reece James and at the 3-0 by Callum Hudson-Odoi. Timo Werner determined the final score deep in injury time, on a pass from Ziyech.

Matthijs de Ligt formed the heart of the defense together with Bonucci. The Dutchman, like his teammates, receives an unsatisfactory score from many Italian media. “Physically he is very strong, in a one-on-one duels he is almost unbeatable,” he wrote. Sports media set, which gives the Dutchman a 5. “But technically he still has a few things to learn.” Bee La Republica there is no more than a 5.5 for De Ligt, who gets a 5 from journalist Romeo Agresti. “It was a bad evening for the Dutchman,” concludes the correspondent of Goal.

Also the Italian branch of Eurosport hands the the Dutch international a 5. Juventus await competition matches with Atalanta (home), Salernitana (away) and Genoa (home) before concluding the group stage of the Champions League on December 8 with a home game against Malmö FF. In this, the Allegri team must achieve a better result than Chelsea at Zenit Saint Petersburg.