Considering the current state of the [Juventus](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com) roster when it comes to the current injury situation and the overall quality of play, it was hard to have many expectations for Thiago Motta’s squad entering Wednesday night’s [Champions League](https://www.sbnation.com/champions-league) matchup against Aston Villa.
It feels, in a way, this team is very much in survival mode at the moment, with so many players out missing and severely hindering the kind of rotation and fluidity that Motta so desires with so many fixtures compacted into a small window.
Unfortunately, survival mode has not come with many highs, instead just the feeling that averting disaster might as well be the name of the game right now.
And boy did they avert a second Champions League “league phase” disaster with the final kick of the ball at Villa Park.
If not for a last-second refereeing decision at the very end of second-half stoppage time, Juventus were about to be looking a second heartbreaking Champions League loss in the last month. However, because the result of Michele Di Gregorio getting an elbow/forearm right in the ribs turned out to be something that was called a foul and wiped out the goal that every Aston Villa fan thought their club had, Juventus recorded a second scoreless draw within the span of five days, allowing a collective sigh of relief from Juventini everywhere on a night in which the makeshift attack very much struggled to create a whole host of scoring opportunities.
And yet, right as I say that, I know that Juventus were also this close to seeing the shortest man on the field, Francisco Conceição, score with his head to put them up 1-0:
What’s that ... a couple of millimeters? AT MOST? I mean, that is a save from Emi Martinez that is very much the kind of world-class effort that makes him getting all those accolades totally understandable. A complete madman he may be, but he also does stuff like that — and it was the kind of save that prevented Juventus from being a really good position with 25 minutes to go.
So maybe with all the unluckiness that came with Martinez’s save was returned to Juventus when the call involving Di Gregorio came back to help them out a little bit.
Should Di Gregorio done better and either timed his jump better or actually caught the ball? Yes, I can take the homer glasses off and recognize that it could have been played better than it actually was.
But, at the same time, seeing Di Gregorio — who has shown to be a keeper who controls his penalty area rather well since signing with Juventus — get whacked right in the ribs and chest right as he is trying to catch the ball, it’s not like Aston Villa center back Diego Carlos is totally innocent, either.
So now that we got all of that out of the way ...
Surviving. I feel like that’s the theme of the day. I can’t help but keep circling back to it. Juventus played well in some areas — especially defensively against a Villa side that has shown it can score some goals when they’re on it — and struggled in areas. Based on what we saw this past weekend against Milan and what the current injury situation is with no reference point up front, you can figure out where Juve struggled once again. Juventus’ xG was once again nothing to write home about without Dusan Vlahovic leading the line.
This team was far from a machine that was humming right along even before the injuries started taking over, and they’ve only exacerbated them now as we roll into December and the last three Champions League fixtures.
Juventus survived this night in Birmingham, England. Just barely. And now we just need to move onto the next one as this very large injury crunch rolls on. That’s all Juventus’ players and Motta can do. Style points aren’t the most important thing right now, that’s for damn sure.
* Seeing such a short bench is just very sad. So few names!
* I mean, when your bench is quite literally 33% goalkeepers, then you just have to wonder how the heck we reached this point.
* Go ahead and insert your jokes about the crowd noise at Villa Park because I’m thinking of it, too. Maybe like how the last-second goal being wiped away ending up being the loudest that stadium felt all night. Considering the fact that the traveling supporters could be heard EASILY for much of the time and all that.
* But it wouldn’t be a Juventus game these days without somebody picking up an injury, right? I guess it’s time to add Nicolo Savona to the list. Dammit ... dammit all to hell.
* It’s the 91st minute and Conceição just bursts forward on a run toward the halfway line and all I can think is “How does this guy have this much damn energy left?”
* Di Gregorio’s first save of the night ... man, that was a good one.
* Turns out, it wouldn’t even be the best save at that end of the field or in that spot of the goal. Funny how this game is sometimes, ain’t it?
* If Aston Villa fans are looking for Ollie Watkins, I think a good place to start looking for him would be in Pierre Kalulu’s pocket. That was some man-marking excellence.
* Manuel Locatelli, take a bow, my friend. That was one hell of a performance when his team needed it. He was good, so damn good against Aston Villa. He was credited with a game-high four tackles, but it felt like so many more than that. He was credited with eight defensive actions, but it felt like so much more than that.
* And that kick save to keep Villa off the scoreboard in the second half, that was great. That’s why it’s the picture above. It was simply fantastic.
* Locatelli’s midfield partner is pretty good, too. I’m glad we’re seeing Khephren Thuram hit a nice run of form because boy is it needed at the moment just from a stability and consistency standpoint.
* Di Gregorio (42) had more touches than Teun Koopmeiners (38). That doesn’t seem like it’s all that great of a development.
* Yet, for all of his struggles, Koopmeiners still had more key passes than any player on the field Wednesday night. Did not expect that one when I looked up the final stats.
* Federico Gatti is a very strong man and that was on display one again against Aston Villa. Other aspects of his game have improved, too, but simply being the big and strong brute of a defender seems to be working well when needed.
* That being said, how good would a center back like Pau Torres look in a Juventus jersey right now? Take me back a couple of years and rework any of those transfer negotiations before he was snatched up by Aston Villa.
* I would like Kenan Yildiz to be more involved in games. That’s just one guy’s opinion, though.
* It pains me to see Motta very much unable to have options off the bench that can truly change the game on a regular basis, so I can only imagine how he’s feeling about it. I get that he’s trying to keep things positive during an absolute mess of a situation, but it’s tough to see him be down to three logical outfield options off the bench and that’s it.
* In conclusion, let’s just get a prayer circle going so that there’s no more muscle fatigue or anything going on in the next couple of days before Juventus head over to Lecce this weekend.