A return to 3-5-2 saw Juve run out ready winners against Bologna with goals from Paulo Dybala and Blaise Matuidi.
Juventus Player Ratings
Mattia Perin: Made a slightly shaky start to the game, dropping a straight forward take, but after that, he looked in control, and more importantly, he was vocal with his defenders. Some comfortable claims aside, he looked totally untroubled. 6.5/10
Leonardo Bonucci: With Bologna sitting deep, Leo was able to push forward a little and distribute from deep, duly playing some lovely crosses (the one to Dybala was a highlight). Looked totally in charge at the back. 6.5/10
Medhi Benatia: Solid and untroubled, especially with Cancelo so quick to drop back and clean up when needed. 6.5/10
Andrea Barzagli: Still dominant, even at his age. Looked strong at the back and took no nonsense from the Bologna attack. Passed the ball around well and lead the troops well. A solid seasonal debut. 6.5/10
Joao Cancelo: Just exceptional in the first half and utterly unstoppable. His runs down the left, his passing, his trickery, his defending, everything was first class. He has the confidence without the arrogance to go about his work with real ease and delivered the best performance from a Juve left-back in some time. 7.5/10
Juan Cuadrado: Back to a more familiar role and he looked more comfortable for it, making some good overlapping runs and linking well with Paulito. 6.5/10
Midfield
Rodrigo Bentancur: Looked so much more comfortable in comparison to the weekends match. Good distribution, strong tackles, intelligent play throughout and his defensive contribution was excellent. 6.5/7.0
Miralem Pjanic: Looked so much better in this 3-5-2 and really dictated the pace of the Juventus play, completing 59/60 passes and having a half chance to score a goal of his own. Started to tire as the game developed and was rightly substituted. 6.5/10
Blaise Matuidi: Another player who looked far better in the changed formation. As usual, a bundle of energy, sprinting from deep, although to far better effect tonight. Could have opened the scoring but his finish on the second goal was just so damn smooth. 7.5/10
Attack
Paulo Dybala: A man of the match performance as he literally covered every blade of grass on the pitch, dropping deep, pushing into the wide areas and perhaps most importantly, he had the space to work up front in attack. Took his goal with a neat finish and had more chances to add to his tally. The best player on the pitch and deservedly took the captain armband when Barzagli came off. A return to form. 8.0/10
Cristiano Ronaldo: Tried to create some chances for himself to start with before setting up Matuidi to double Juve’s tally. His movement off the ball was a problem for Bologna all night and he was unlikely not to score another goal late on. 6.5/10
Substitutes
Emre Can: Played the final 25 minutes and steadied the Juve midfield. Good in patches but still needs to play more regularly to acclimatize himself to his teammates. 6.0/10
Federico Bernardeschi: Played the final 15 minutes and freshened up the attack. N/A
Alex Sando: A brief 5 minute cameo with the game already won. N/A
