Juventus 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen: 3 Reasons Why the Bianconeri were victorious against the Germans

Having dispatched SPAL in the league just a few days ago, Juventus saw off a potential banana peel fixture against Bayer Leverkusen successfully. Goals coming from Gonzalo Higuain, Federico Berardeschi, and Cristiano Ronaldo gave the Old Lady all three points as Bayer barely registered a threat.

The visitors showed plenty of activity all game, but Bayer couldn't get a shot on target all game. They failed to test what appeared to be a makeshift defence that appeared unsettled every time they played a diagonal ball.

Despite the visitors starting the game at breakneck speed, it was Juventus who got the breakthrough in the 17th minute. Both sides continued to underwhelm for the rest of the half, but the Italians looked perhaps a shade better.

The second half was when the Bianconeri stepped it up and clinched another goal in the 61st minute to give themselves a cushion. Juventus would continue to create chances and looked like they would comfortably close out the game as they notched a cherry on the proverbial cake with Ronaldo netting in the 88th minute.

Although the Portuguese appeared to be out of sorts for most of the game, he improved significantly in the last quarter with Dybala and Ramsey beside him, and it resulted in a goal created for him by the Argentine.

#1 Matthijs de Ligt's anticipation

De Ligt looked assured and comfortable alongside Bonucci

The 20-year-old took plenty of flak in his early games for Juventus as he committed some schoolboy errors that on a number of occasions nearly cost his team the game. But against Bayer Leverkusen, he appeared assured of himself and largely back to his astute defending style built on a good reading of the game.

As Juventus defended narrowly with their entire team squeezed into the central areas of the pitch, De Ligt's anticipation to cut out any potential threats through the middle or down the side was in full display. The Dutch defender seems like he's starting to feel at home in Italy if this is a sign of things to come.

#2 Juan Cuadrado as right-back

Cuadrado was effective at right-back in spells but looked out of his depth in that position

Despite missing recognisable full-backs in two games now, Juventus have won both games by more than two goals and keeping a clean sheet in both. Al least they had the returning Brazilian Alex Sandro for this game, but the right-back slot had to be occupied by Juan Cuadrado, who appeared to be the weak link in this Juventus defensive set-up.

At the end of the game, the Colombian would've been satisfied with that performance where he contributed plenty going forward, including the assist for the first goal. There is cause for concern for Juventus though, as he appeared out of sorts on a number of occasions.

Leverkusen's Kevin Volland couldn't get the best of him on that side, but given that he should've been identified as the easiest potential target in the Juve backline, perhaps Kai Havertz or Nadiem Amiri would've been more suited to taking him on.

Had Bayer been able to exploit this chink in Juventus' armour, the result may have been very different, or at least it would've been an uncomfortable night for Sarri's men.

#3 Higuain and Bernardeschi's running

Higuain and Berardeschi were both on target for Juventus

The narrow defensive set-up for Maurizio Sarri's Juventus meant that both Higuain and Federico Bernardeschi had plenty of defensive duties going and pressing on the outside and following full-backs to make their life difficult. Not only did both of them excel at those roles, but they also managed to overturn possession on a couple of instances and launch an attack fo their own.

By all accounts though, the most impressive aspect of their movement was their off-the-ball running when Juventus were in position. Both of them scored their goals making a run from deep and receiving or affecting a ball that was good enough to find their runs in advanced areas. Their constant forays forward pushed Bayer back and forced them to sit deeper than they would perhaps have liked to do.

With Cristiano Ronaldo not having one of his most effective nights, the other two stepped up. What should be a scary thought, though, would be that their replacements in Dybala and Ramsey not only replicated the effect they had in the game but also seemed to improve Ronaldo.