Daniele Rugani is ready to star in Juventus’ defence

Date: 25th October 2017 at 12:40am
Written by:

Waiting for an opportunity to establish a career in Serie A can be arduous, especially at one of Italy’s biggest clubs, and Daniele Rugani has certainly been patient since joining Juventus in 2015.

Despite showing maturity beyond his years while he was at Empoli, earning a place in the Juve starting lineup was always going to be a challenge with experienced defenders like Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, and Giorgio Chiellini in the squad.

Although the 23-year-old has made some fine cameo performances since arriving in Turin, he demonstrated in Juventus’ 6-2 victory against Udinese on Sunday evening that he can be a starter in the Bianconeri defence.

La Vecchia Signora coach Massimiliano Allegri decided to leave Barzagli on the bench and start Rugani against Udinese, keeping in mind that Juve have a mid-week Serie A match against SPAL as well and that Barzagli cannot play too many matches in a row at the age of 36.

It was an undesired start for Juventus as they were 1-0 down after just eight minutes and an inaccurate pass from Rugani in midfield was the catalyst. Although Miralem Pjanic was the intended target, Zebrette midfielder Seko Fofana intercepted the ball and Stipe Perica easily shrugged off Chiellini to beat Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Remarkably the Bianconeri came quickly back to make it 2-1 and they managed to play better after forward Mario Mandzukic was sent-off in the 27th minute. Despite being down to 10 men, the Turin giants fought tooth and nail to deny the Friulani space to play in, and Rugani remained calm despite the extra defensive responsibilities placed upon him.

In the second half though, the former Empoli defender showed that he can also help Juventus when they go on the attack. Scores were level at 2-2 seven minutes into the second half and the 23-year-old headed in Paulo Dybala’s free-kick into the net to regain the lead for La Vecchia Signora.

Minutes later, Dybala took another free-kick and it was Rugani at the far post who headed the ball across goal for Sami Khedira to side volley the ball into the net.

Modern football requires players to contribute in all facets of the game and the Juve starlet did that against Udinese. In addition to his goal and assist, he made six clearances and only Chiellini completing more with seven.

Only in hindsight will football fans and the media see if this was the match in which Rugani establishes himself as a regular at Juventus, especially with Barzagli and Chiellini still playing on a regular basis despite being their mid-30s.

Despite that, a performance like this should indicate to Massimiliano Allegri that the former Empoli centre-back is capable of playing well for the Bianconeri at the highest level and that the future of their defence is in safe hands.

 

Comments are closed.