The run of draws is over. The talk of nothing but draws is over.
All of it — over.
That is because Juventus, when they desperately needed a win to start to try and turn the tide amidst a run of nothing but draws, showed the hell up. And against a team with all the hardware (and money) in the world sitting back in England, Juventus and their first-year manager showed that they can get it done on the big stage when it’s needed.
Sure, Manchester City are currently not the same Manchester City that resembles the four-time Premier League-winning side of the past half-decade, but Wednesday night’s 2-0 win over the English giants showed us what things can look like when Thiago Motta puts out a plan, his team executes it to near perfection and everything plays out just as well as you could have hoped. This was Juventus hitting City on the break, making them pay for it with second-half goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie within the span of 12 minutes, and getting three oh-so-valuable points in the Champions League’s new league phase.
The victory, Juventus’ first since Nov. 9 in all competitions, saw Motta’s squad shoot up eight spots in the league table from 22nd to 14th, right behind Atalanta and just two points off the automatic qualification places with two league phase fixtures to go.
It also extended City’s run to just one win in their last 10 games in all competitions and prevented any sort of talk about Pep Guardiola starting to potentially turn the tide with a positive result and performance against Juventus.
Instead, this is where Juventus got the win.
And it sure was a good win no matter what kind of shape Manchester City are in.
Juventus battled. They showed about as much heart as we’ve seen from them this season — especially when it came to how they defended. They worked together. They limited the same kind of game-changing mistakes we’ve seen over the course of their run of draws. When City pushed for a goal more and more both before and after Vlahovic’s opener that just got across the line, Juventus defended like a bunch of tenacious madmen who knew that such an important victory was there for the taking.
And most important of all, they took advantage of the best scoring chances that came their way against a Manchester City side that proved to be susceptible on the counterattack.
This was a complete kind of performance we’ve seen only a few times from Juventus under Motta so far this season. We’ve seen them win the hard way in the Champions League in Leipzig. We’ve also seen them win in a commanding kind of way during their UCL league phase opener against PSV Eindhoven back in September. But to do this against Manchester City — yes, a shorthanded City but they’re still a team with elite talent all over the place — it’s hard to scoff at it.
Juventus needed a night like this one, and they went out and got it. Time will tell if this ends up being the turning point for Motta and his squad, but it’s been a while since Juventus got a truly big win in the Champions League in front of the hometown crowd.
They certainly deserve it. Juventus and Motta just got a signature win and it feels damn good to see after so many freaking draws over the last couple of months.
RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS
“Tonight was a great birthday gift from the Stadium,” a beaming Alessandro Del Piero in yet another sharp dark gray suit with tan pinstripes said on the CBS post-game show. I don’t know about you, but whenever Del Piero is happy with Juventus, so am I. (Even if his birthday was technically a month ago. It’s “Christmas in November” for a reason.”
Dec. 8, 2020: Weston McKennie scores a scissor kick against Barcelona in the Champions League.
Dec. 11, 2024: Weston McKennie scores a scissor kick against Manchester City in the Champions League.
Wednesday night’s goal had a little extra USMNT flair to it considering who recorded the assist. Credit to Timothy Weah for sticking with the action after his initial cross/shot was blocked. Good to see McKennie rewarded for such a great pass out wide and run into the box because my man was HOWLING for the ball right before the cross.
Also a big part of the goal: Danilo. Both for the huge tackle and the outlet pass to McKennie.
I also hope that Wes has a little bit of fun with his goal considering Federico Gatti nearly scored in the same way from basically the same spot in the City penalty area but actually saw his shot saved. (It did lead to Juve’s first goal, so it wasn’t a total loss.)
Manchester City possession through 18 minutes: 72%.
Manchester City possession through 30 minutes: 67%.
Manchester City possession through the first half: 65%.
Manchester City possession at the final whistle: 69%.
Juventus won, though. That’s nice.
With all that possession in the first half, the total number of shots created by both teams was even at 3-3.
Within the first 20 minutes of the second half, both Juve and City had recorded six shots apiece. So that’s a sign that things were a little more open.
Despite having just 31% possession, Juventus finished with nearly as many shots as City while having a 5-3 advantage in shots on goal. How about that?!
Boy oh boy was Michele Di Gregorio’s first save of the night a good one. Erling Haaland had to think he had one, but the left hand of Di Gregorio absolutely stoned him.
His second save was a pretty dang good one, too.
Through 90 minutes, Haaland had all of 18 touches and just the one shot attempt. Juventus’ defense locked down arguably the best No. 9 in the business.
All that possession and Vlahovic still finished with more touches than Haaland. Ha, ha, ha.
Ederson’s effort on the Gatti side volley and Vlahovic’s goal ... yikes!
Oh man, if Kenan Yildiz had scored that shot to the back post in the 20th minute, not sure we would have been able to hear the announcers’ reaction to it with the stadium being so loud. What a chance that was.
Manchester City passes completed: 698
Juventus passes completed: 310
As somebody might want to do, just go ahead and yell “SCOREBOARD!” right about now.
Manuel Locatelli was not good over the weekend, and he was very much responsible for both goals that Bologna scored in the 2-2 draw. There was not a repeat performance of all that against Manchester City. Locatelli was absolutely massive. Dude was all over the place making tackles, blocking shots, spreading the ball around. It was just a great night for No. 5.
Locatelli had 12 defensive actions. Nobody else in the game had more than seven.
I know I’ve already mentioned Danilo, but his performance deserves another mention because I was very worried about how he would do at left back. Well, he did quite well and held his own in the first half when City were certainly attacking down the right wing a lot of the time.
Nicolo Savona can stay. Another solid Champions League performance from a kid who was playing in Serie C last season.
On a few occasions Francisco Conceição was basically triple-teamed by the entire left side of Manchester City’s lineup. You know, just in case you’re wondering just how dangerous opposing teams have come to think how dangerous our new favorite Portuguese winger is.
It’s nice to get a win again. So, so nice.
Seeing Gatti celebrating every single clearance and blocked shot really was a throwback to better times for Juventus. Same goes for beating Manchester City in the Champions League. Let us remember this win and get to enjoy it, my friends.