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Juventus traveled to the Gewiss Stadium to face Atalanta with Cristiano Ronaldo missing due to injury. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side were only a point behind the Bianconeri in the Serie A table and arrived at the game on the back of a four-game winning streak.
Juventus had managed to climb up to third after back-to-back victories against Napoli and Genoa. However, a place in the top four is far from guaranteed. Andrea Pirlo was aware that he needed to win against their top-four rivals to secure their position at the table, but the unavailability of Cristiano Ronaldo made it a harder task.
Pirlo had a decision to make in the absence of the Portuguese, and the Juventus manager opted for Paulo Dybala to replace Cristiano Ronaldo. The other two changes to the team that beat Genoa were Alex Sandro in place of Danilo and Weston McKennie in for Dejan Kulusevski.
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Juventus missed Cristiano Ronaldo in the final third
Once the game started, it was clear that Juventus were missing their talisman. The absence of Cristiano Ronaldo meant that the Bianconeri lacked decisiveness in the final third.
Atalanta came close to scoring when Matteo Pessina found himself in the opposition box after a nice one-two with Luis Muriel, but the Italian failed to find the back of the net. Alvaro Morata almost gave Juventus the lead after Federico Chiesa caught Joakim Maehle in possession inside the Atalanta box. However, the Spaniard’s shot was cleared by Berat Djimsiti before it crossed the line.
Juventus struggled for inspiration in the final third throughout the game. Dybala failed to deputize for Cristiano Ronaldo and was eventually replaced by Kulusevski in the 68th minute. However, it was Atalanta who threatened to take the lead, with Duvan Zapata coming close in the 70th minute. And the home team’s relentlessness eventually paid dividends when Ruslan Malinovskiy’s shot was deflected into the back of the net off Sandro.
Juventus rallied for an equalizer, but Atalanta held on and eventually won the game 1-0. On that note, here are the best reactions from the game.
