There was a point in the first half on Tuesday afternoon when you could see things start to click for Real Madrid. After [Juventus](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com) gave the Spanish giants a couple of early scares, the later stages of the opening 45 minutes saw Real Madrid start to kick into gear. And it didn’t stop come the second half, either, with Juve having to fight off wave after wave of pressure.
The one saving grace for Igor Tudor as Madrid racked up the goal scoring chances?
Michele Di Gregorio and his rslick, ed-clad keeper kit was in goal for Juventus and playing absolutely out of his mind.
Yet, despite Di Gregorio heroics time and time again against Real Madrid, it wasn’t enough to fully keep one of the most talented teams in the world off the scoreboard. There was just one blemish in the 1-0 loss to Real Madrid — and it wasn’t even on Di Gregorio, as one of the most surprising performers thus far at the Club World Cup for Xabi Alonso, 21-year-old striker Gonzalo Garcia, was able to finish a wide-open header that proved to be the difference in Juventus’ 1-0 loss at Hard Rock Stadium. With the loss, it spells the end of Juve’s stay in the United States this summer, with plenty of questions remained to be answered coming out of the Club World Cup and where Tudor takes this team from here.
Don’t look now, folks, but Juventus’ season opener is less than two months away.
Let’s make no mistake about it, though: Without the effort in goal from Di Gregorio against Real Madrid, the final score would have looked more like what we saw last week against Manchester City. It would have been a blowout or something close to it — something that would have truly been a massive blow knowing what happened less than a week earlier against City.
Thankfully, Di Gregorio had what will surely go down as one of the best performances of his career. He made 10 saves — many of them of the high-quality variety, if not world class. Time and time again, Real Madrid launched something at the Juventus goal only for Di Gregorio to fly to his right or dive to his left to stop a shot.
Those 10 saves, by the way, are more than he made in any of his appearances as a Juve player this season. They’re more than any single game during his two seasons in Serie A with Monza. They’re more than any single game during his first two seasons with Monza in Serie B.
Basically, it was a career-high total of saves for Di Gregorio. And against Real Madrid to boot.
Juventus had their chances to strike in the first half — most notably through Randal Kolo Muani and Kenan Yildiz — but couldn’t convert to give them the early lead. It proved costly even though Real Madrid’s goal didn’t come until the 54th minute. You had to figure that Juve’s opportunities would be somewhat limited even with Kolo Muani and Yildiz back in the starting lineup, so taking advantage of those had to be crucial if they wanted to even sniff the Club World Cup quarterfinals.
Unfortunately, they didn’t come about. And the more talented team took advantage of that.
It could have been worse. There is no doubt about that. We’re also left to wonder what an early goal through Kolo Muani might have meant to a game that saw Juve outshot 21-6 on the day. But there’s also the thought process — and clearly not as entertaining — of what the score would have been like if Di Gregorio didn’t play the way he did.
Either way, Juventus’ run at the Club World Cup ends in the Round of 16 and now the attention turns fully to what can be done to address a squad that needs plenty of work.
* I sure hope Di Gregorio gets as much room as he wants on the flight back to Turin. He deserves to stretch out and rest as much as anybody after that kind of performance.
* Seriously, though ... some of those saves were just so good.
* And he nearly got a hand to Garcia’s goal, too. That would have just been the cherry on top if he were somehow able to tip that ball over the bar and keep Real Madrid scoreless.
* Still, even with that goal, the 9.3 rating on Sofasore that Di Gregorio has received feels completely justified. Dude was far and away the biggest reason why it was only a 1-0 loss.
* That marking of Garcia on the goal ... not nearly as good. Or good at all.
* Neither was the header from Lloyd Kelly that served as the initial attempted clearance. That basically allowed Real Madrid to reload, get the ball out to Trent Alexander-Arnold and Garcia to do the rest. Great teams will make you pay for that — and Real Madrid did just that.
* Fede Valverde, what a player.
* Dean Huijsen, also a pretty good player. Somebody should have picked him up on the cheap when he was a teenager in Spain. Ah well.
* Huijsen playing on the left in Xabi Alonso’s back three while Juve started Kelly on the left in their own back three is just chef’s kiss when it comes to buckets of salt being poured in the wound up close and personal.
* Considering he had not started a game in nearly two months, I feel safe in saying that was a pretty good showing from Daniele Rugani in the center of Juve’s defense. Hopefully this is just another sign that he can be a useful player off the bench for this team — especially if they’re going to use a back three and only a back three.
* Personal opinion, but I think it’s pretty telling that when Juve’s down a goal and the highest-paid player in Serie A who just so happens to be a striker does not enter the game at all.
* I also think it’s pretty telling that one of the most expensive transfers from last summer, a certain Douglas Luiz, didn’t start a single game at the Club World Cup even when it was clear he would be a useful player against some of the bigger clubs Juve faced.
* So much for the beginning of that summer reboot for Teun Koopmeiners, huh? Missed on that one. I’ll try and be better next time.
* The biggest thing that turned things for Real Madrid? Putting multiple defenders on Yildiz every chance they got and basically forcing Juventus to try and go through another one of their limited creative outlets. Once that change was made, Juve barely had an answer going forward.
* Juventus’ first sub of the day was Filip Kostic.
* Real Madrid’s first sub of the day was Kylian Mbappe.
* I think that says all you need to say about the gap in quality between the two squads.
* Still thinking about that missed chance from Kolo Muani. Man of man, you gotta finish those when you get them — especially against an opponent like Real Madrid.
* I think Di Gregorio just made another save while I was typing this out even though the final whistle sounded well over half an hour ago.
* Considering this was close but not completely Real Madrid’s starting lineup, I can’t help but wonder how many Juve players that Tudor played on Tuesday actually get into that side. It’s probably Yildiz ... and who else? I really don’t know because Madrid’s squad is just so much better than Juve’s currently is.
* I sure hope the next game Juventus plays has Bremer in defense. That would be nice.
* The possession numbers didn’t really change from the first half to the second, but it sure did feel like Real Madrid had so much more of the ball coming out of halftime. I guess that’s what happens when your goalkeeper has to make big save after big save with no end in sight.
* Vini Jr. put Alberto Costa on skates in the second half. Wooooo boy did he ever.
* So that ends Juventus’ stay at the Club World Cup, a tournament in which things have been far from perfect on the whole. We’ll have more to say about it over the next handful of days, but it’s hard to say it was a success when Juve beat the two clubs they should have beaten and then lose to the two clubs they were underdogs against. It’s just ... yeah, hard to say.