Lloyd Kelly was at the centre of a storm at the FIFA World Club Cup as Juventus were battered 5-2 by Man City
Lloyd Kelly in action for Juventus against Monza
Lloyd Kelly in action for Juventus against Monza
Newcastle United picked up over £20million for Lloyd Kelly at the end of the season after securing a permanent sale for the left-sided defender.
Kelly's loan stint at Juventus resulted in him helping the Serie A side get into the Champions League but talk has been rife in the Italian Press that the ex-Bournemouth man could be sold this summer. That won't concern Newcastle, who have now been credited with funds for the 26-year-old.
Although his FIFA World Club Cup adventure will continue regardless of Juventus's defensive nightmare last night, which saw them thrashed by Man City 5-2, Kelly suffered some low merit marks in the media.
Football Italia rated Kelly at just 4/10 and said: "Pep Guardiola’s strikers kept coming from all over the place and the ex-Newcastle man hardly found a way to stop them."
Kelly's team-mate Manuel Locatelli emerged to say to journalists afterwards in Florida: "We had a bad game that we have to analyse, we have to understand where we went wrong. Manchester City are one of the strongest teams in the world, but we definitely made a lot of mistakes. We have to roll up our sleeves and try to put in a great performance in the Round of 16."
Juve boss Igor Tudor added: "We didn't manage to recover the ball where we wanted to and when we had possession we didn't handle it well because they pressed us with intensity and timing. We had to be perfect and we were not. This match does not take alter our path, football is like that. Now we rest, recover and focus on preparing for the next game."
For Kelly and Juventus, things don't get much easier as they face Real Madrid in the last 16 on Tuesday the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
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