Lyon 1-0 Juventus: Juve face uphill task after shock defeat

February 27, 2020 Contributing Editor European Leagues, UEFA Champions League
Lyon 1-0 Juventus - Juve face uphill task after shock defeat

Eight times Serie A champion Juventus were shocked by Lyon at Parc Olympique Lyonnais. Lucas Tousart, who plays in midfield, scored the goal at the half-hour mark for the host. 

Juventus vs Lyon – Context

Serie A leader Juventus have last won European championship more than 20 years back, and like other bigger clubs dream of winning this coveted championship once again. This was the reason why they had managerial changes in this season after winning Serie A for five consecutive seasons with Massimiliano Allegri. Maurizio Sarri was appointed as coach in summer, but Juventus are struggling, and fans are not happy. Though statistics are in their favour, but they struggled painfully in those wins that they had. The only silver lining being Christino Ronaldo, who is in terrific form.

Lyon are struggling in Ligue 1, where they are placed at the seventh spot in points table. The best performance from the Lyon based club in UEFA Champions League, was in 2009-10, which year they reached in Semifinal of this completion.

Juventus vs Lyon – Goal

Lucas Tousart converted Houssem Aouar’s cross from 8 yards to provide Ligue 1 side the lead. The Italian champions looked little switched off for few moments, when their centre back Matthijs de Ligt was receiving treatment for a cut in head, and Juve was down to 10 men.

What the scoreboard won’t tell

  • Juventus had a struggling midfield. Though they had 64% ball possession but failed to create chances for Ronaldo and others. With Emre Can moved to Dortmund and Blaise Matuidi on bench, Juve had a bad day.
  • In two occasions, Ronaldo and Dybala were apparently brought down inside penalty areas, but the referee ignored those events. VAR did not intervene for potential penalty kick decisions.
  • Matthijs de Ligt and Paulo Dybala had injuries, and they had to take treatment during the match, as they found blood from their respective injuries.
  • Juventus struggled to create clear chances, with Ronaldo rarely looking like near to his blistering form. Higuain and Cuadrado should have done better from close range before the offside flag denied Dybala a goal. 

Result and Conclusion

  •  Lyon have beaten Juventus in European competition for the very first time, losing three of their previous four encounters.
  • Since November 2009 had the Biaconeri lost against French opposition in the Champions League, with the last such setback coming in a 2-0 defeat against Bordeaux in the group stages.
  • Juventus did not test the opposition goal-keeper for once in 90 minutes. They have 14 shots, and none was on target.
  • Juventus have conceded in seven consecutive away games in all competitions, their longest such run without a clean sheet in a single season since May 2010 (18 games).

Post Match

I could tell something wasn’t switched on with the 11 starters either. We’ve got to sort this out, as these are the things that make the difference… They hit us when we were down to 10 men; that was the little moment when they were smart to hurt us.

Leonardo Bonucci on the mindset of Juventus players and the situation when they conceded the goal.

We lacked determination and aggression when attacking, and for 15 minutes lacked it defensively too… The second half was better, but it’s not enough for a Champions League match. I don’t know why I cannot get the players to understand the importance of moving the ball quickly.

Maurizio Sarri on Juventus performance

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