Who were the heroes and villains from the top of the table showdown? Football Italia rates the Roma and Juventus stars.
Words: Tom Scholes
Roma
Wojciech Szczesny: 6
An easy night for the Pole, who was very rarely tested throughout the evening. There wasn’t much he could have done about the Juventus opener, but from that goal onwards he was solid and gave the four defenders in front of him confidence.
Antonio Rudiger: 6
Who were the heroes and villains from the top of the table showdown? Football Italia rates the Roma and Juventus stars.
Words: Tom Scholes
Roma
Wojciech Szczesny: 6
An easy night for the Pole, who was very rarely tested throughout the evening. There wasn’t much he could have done about the Juventus opener, but from that goal onwards he was solid and gave the four defenders in front of him confidence.
Antonio Rudiger: 6
Much like Szczesny, Rudiger was very solid whenever he was tested tonight. He was strong in the tackle and rarely gave Mario Mandzukic a sniff. He was put on that side to deal with the Croat’s height, and dealt with him fairly well over the course of the 90 minutes.
Kostas Manolas: 6
It may not have been a vintage Manolas performance, but the Greek international was solid enough in the heart of the defence. He marshalled Gonzalo Higuain well enough, and was even a threat going forwards from set pieces. Manolas put in a good performance tonight, and the fact he didn’t have to do too much was testament to his showing.
Federico Fazio: 7
A lot stronger than his defensive partner, Fazio was a top performer for Roma this evening. He was strong in the air, dealt with any threat from the front three of Juve and held the line well when the defensive unit needed to drop deep or push up. A good outing for the former Spurs man and, whilst it may go unnoticed, he was superb.
Emerson Palmieri: 6
Going forward, Emerson provided a good threat, as his pace almost caused havoc, but he was fairly restricted in his ventures forward. Much like the other Roma defenders, he was solid when needed to be, but his occasional bursts forward almost gave Roma another outlet on the left-hand side. A good performance and a reliable showing.
Daniele De Rossi: 7
In recent weeks, the form of captain De Rossi has been criticised, with some claiming he’s ‘over the hill,’ yet tonight he showed how vital he can be to this Roma side. His leadership, his experience and (most importantly) his goal were crucial to this win and not only that, but he led by example. His defensive play allowed his midfield partner to express himself a bit more.
Leandro Paredes: 7
Parades was almost playing like a Miralem Pjanic sort of role, in the sense that he pulled the strings of the Roma team and made the game tick. His passing and vision set off those in front of him, and he was perfect in finding the ball to the two wingers every time. Paredes is starting to really make a name for himself across the continent, and performances like tonight show why.
Mohamed Salah: 7
One of the most effective and dangerous wingers in Serie A, Momo Salah was one of the most creative players on the pitch tonight. His pace caused chaos against Asamoah and Lichtsteiner, who just couldn’t keep up with him. No matter what they did, they just couldn’t get close to Salah and he was a driving force throughout the game for Roma, moving to a False Nine role later on.
Radja Nainggolan: 8
A Man of the Match performance from the Belgian, whose goal really sealed the victory for Luciano Spalletti’s side. His powerful display from the middle of the park set Roma on their way and his box-to-box running made him hard to man-mark. Nainggolan is great at those late runs into the box and getting onto the end of attacks, something he did with great effect tonight, despite a calf injury.
Stephan El Shaarawy: 7
With his goal, the former Milan man was dangerous going forward and was causing problems all night. The strike itself may have been fortunate, but his run towards goal before shooting showed that Juve had trouble containing him with their backs to goal, something the Italian preyed on.
Diego Perotti: 6
Playing essentially as a False Nine, Perotti was fairly quiet tonight and wasn’t individually outstanding, but in the overall picture he was a big part of how Roma played. With Perotti dropping deep, he allowed the wingers and one midfield runner to bomb forward, something they did many times. So on a whole he may not have made an individual difference, but he was key to how Roma set up.
Substitutes
Clement Grenier: 5
Coming on for Perotti, the Frenchman was brought on the sure up the midfield, and whilst he wasn’t outstanding, he was solid enough.
Juan Jesus: 5
Mainly brought on to waste some time and to give Nainggolan a standing ovation, there isn’t much to write home about on Juan Jesus.
Francesco Totti: N/A
I don’t actually think Totti touched the ball in his brief cameo, but he still came on to a standing ovation.
Juventus
Gianluigi Buffon: 5
An uncharacteristic performance from Buffon, as he will have felt he could have prevented the first two goals. He seemed to flap at the Manolas header for De Rossi’s equaliser, and almost just watched El Shaarawy’s spooned effort roll past him. It did seem like just an off night, but Buffon will be disappointed nonetheless.
Kwadwo Asamoah: 5
If Asamoah was a regular full-back for Juve, they ought to be worried, because he doesn’t seem to ever be comfortable dealing with players who have pace. Every time a Roma forward attacked him, he couldn’t stop them. Salah had him beaten all night and he was poor defensively.
Medhi Benatia: 6
With most of the Roma attack going down the wings, Benatia had very little to deal with apart from crosses into the box. Had Edin Dzeko been on the pitch, it would’ve been a completely different story, but with Perotti dropping deep, the centre-backs didn’t really have much to mark.
Leonardo Bonucci: 6
Much like Benatia, Bonucci wasn’t too bad in comparison to some other Juve defenders. He was able to clear most of what came his way, and because of the attacks going wide, Bonucci was only able to clear what was in his path, nothing more, and nothing less.
Stephan Lichtsteiner: 5
If the Swiss international is still at Juve next season, I will be very surprised. He doesn’t seem to have the pace to deal with some of the top attackers and he got left in the dirt a few times over the course of the 90 minutes. Lichtsteiner has been a very good servant to the club, but maybe his time is up with the Old Lady.
Stefano Sturaro: 6
Despite his industrious attempts to break up the Roma play, Sturaro wasn’t fully in the game this evening. It seemed to pass him by, and he just couldn’t get into his full flow. A poor game by his own standards, but I highly doubt he will let this affect him too much.
Miralem Pjanic: 6
On his return to the Olimpico since his move in the summer, Pjanic wasn’t his usual best. When Juve were on top of the game, he was the instigator and put balls into good areas, spreading the play. But when Roma had their turn to dominate, Pjanic was left stranded. A rare type of performance, but it’ll probably be a while till we see another one like this.
Mario Lemina: 6
Despite his well-worked goal, Lemina was largely absent in the game. He didn’t do badly, but he didn’t do all that much. His performance was very middle of the road, and wasn’t spectacular. It’s hard to be critical over someone who didn’t do anything yet scored a goal, but Lemina was reasonably average.
Mario Mandzukic: 6
Something wasn’t quite right with Mandzukic tonight. Whether it was Rudiger marking him tightly or something else, but it wasn’t the usual Mandzukic. He did try to get involved and change the game, but nothing was doing for the hard-working Croatian.
Gonzalo Higuain: 6
Being isolated in a game can be tough for any striker, but when you don’t get any service it can be hell. Higuain did well on the Lemina goal with his lovely deft lay-off to the midfielder, but that was about the only thing of note he did in regards to changing the game.
Juan Cuadrado: 5
A lot of Juve fans have been critical of Cuadrado for his inconsistency, and I can imagine that a lot of stick will be heading the way of the Colombian. He’s definitely had worse games over the course of the season, but he just didn’t get involved as much as he should’ve done.
Subs
Dani Alves: 6
Alves was brought on by Max Allegri to try and spark some life into the game, and he couldn’t quite do it. He did give it a go, but it was almost like too little, too late when he was introduced.
Paulo Dybala: 6
The Argentinian changed the pace of the Juventus play when he was introduced, but he couldn’t do it on his own. He charged at the Roma defenders, but every time he tried, about three players closed him down.
Claudio Marchisio: 6
His introduction didn’t do much to the game, but towards the latter stages he brought the control back to Juve. He gave the forwards licence to go forward, giving them some decent enough passes.