Juventus extended their lead at the top of the table with a 3-1 win against Cagliari at the Stadio Sant’Elia in Serie A on Thursday evening.
Early goals from Carlos Tevez and Arturo Vidal gave the visitors control of the game before Fernando Llorente got on the score sheet early in the second half.
Luca Rossettini pulled a consolation goal for the home side but it didn’t prevent the league leaders from collecting a comfortable three points.
Did we get our player ratings right? Have your say below.
Cagliari
Luca Cragno – 5.5– Unlucky
The Cagliari goalkeeper was excellent at handling the ball though he should have done much better to save Llorente’s weak attempt.
Simone Benedetti – 5 – Poor
Was hauled off at half-time after a rough night.
Luca Ceppitelli – 5.5 – Decent
Read the game well for most parts after his side had conceded the two early goals.
Luca Rossettini – 6 – Tough
Had a difficult time dealing with Juventus’ strike force though he got his goal with a bullet of a header past a hapless Buffon.
Marco Capuano – 6 – Battling
Was kept busy by Lichtsteiner’s run though was constantly helping out going forward.
Antonio Balzano – 5.5 – Struggled
Could have done so much more against Evra down the right though did play a couple of delightful through balls.
Daniele Conti – 5 – Ineffective
The 35-year-old was overrun in the midfield and had a poor game.
Albin Ekdal – 4.5 – Wayward
Tried his best but had a lot of long range efforts which didn’t come to any fruition.
Danilo Avelar – 5.5 – Conservative
Didn’t have the license to roam forward and was constantly pegged back by Lichtsteiner.
Andrea Cossu – 6 – Bright
One of the few good performers on the night for the home side. Played a couple of clever passes while drifting out wide and crossing into the box.
Victor Ibarbo – 5.5 – Isolated
Threatened down the left flank in the opening few minutes of the first half before fading out of the game as the Old Lady exerted its dominance.
Substitutes
Godfred Donsah – 5 – Anonymous
Came on at half time as Zdenek Zeman changed the system but Ghanaian didn’t have much of an impact.
Caio Rangel – N/A
Juventus
Gianluigi Buffon – 6 – Alert
Did well to deny Ekdal early on though wasn’t accurate with his distribution and couldn’t do much with the goal.
Stephan Lichtsteiner – 7 – Lungs
Was kept busy by Conti down the flank though made his traditional bombarding runs frequently.
Angelo Ogbonna – 6.5 – Rock
Had his hand full with the Ibarbo and did his bit in stopping potential counter attacks whenever the home side threatened.
Giorgio Chiellini – 6 – Solid
The Italian hard man was an assured presence at the heart of the defence throughout.
Patrice Evra – 5 – Adequate
Didn’t offer too much going forward and was at fault for Cagliari’s consolation goal.
Claudio Marchisio – 6 – Consistent
Controlled the midfield with Pirlo, spraying balls out wide to the marauding fullbacks.
Arturo Vidal – 7.5 – Gladiator
The Chilean scored a scorcher from outside the area and put in a remarkable display in the midfield, closing down the opposition ferociously.
Andrea Pirlo – 6.5 – Maestro
The 35-year-old put in another impeccable display capping it off with a delightful chip which Llorente raced on to and converted.
Roberto Pereyra – 5 – Bursts
The 23-year-old blew hot and cold and came close to scoring his first Juventus goal when put through by first Tevez and then Lichtsteiner.
Fernando Llorente – 6.5 – Tower
Was imperious in the air, though his goal came from a scruffy attempt.
Carlos Tevez – 6.5 – Tenacious
Opened the scoring in the third minute from a rebound. Did well to drop into midfield and link up play.
Substitutes
Alvaro Morata – 6 – Trying
Came close to scoring towards the end and linked up well while going forward in the 20 minutes or so he played.
Simone Padoin – N/A
Sebastian Giovinco – N/A
The trouble with these player ratings is that they lack consistency & often have contradictions amongst them. For example a player gets a 5 & is poor (poor to me is a 3 or 4) yet another player gets .5 more & is “decent”?. Decent to me is a 6 or 7.