Barcelona have taken over the reins of Group G in the UEFA Champions League after a 2-0 win over Cristiano Ronaldo-Juventus on Wednesday as part of Macedon 2. Osman Dembele scored in the first half, Juventus defender Marieh Demirel was shown a red card late and Lionel Messi converted a penalty kick in stoppage time.
Ronaldo missed the game due to his coronavirus diagnosis and Juve showed up as a rare threat, and he was offside when he did. Barca, on the other hand, had a long dominance in all of the game and by allowing Juve to stay around they must have put much earlier than that.
The victory gives Barca a three-point lead in the group with three points and six. Juve finished second with their own three points.
Barca will return from a massive loss to El Clસિકsico
The defeat to Real Madrid in El Clસિકsico highlighted a number of issues Barca currently has, but the credit for this bounce-back performance remains. News of the resignation of President Josep Bartomeu may have irritated the team. Now, let’s not go away and think this was an excellent performance, but Barca was strong. Defensively they did not allow shots on goal, they completed a dominant possession of about 90 percent of their pass, enabling the ball to enter the space quickly to make 13 total shots. Sure, the goals came from deflection and penalties, but both Messi and Antoine Griezmann had a spectacular look at the goal.
Barca also kept their width good, which was the key for Messi to find Dembele on the first goal:
This was a Barca team that experienced a lot of improvement in the team that lost to Real, and there was only sharpness in the attack. So whether those changes have been made or as a result of a new energy vacancy, that’s a really good sign.
Juventus are just average without Ronaldo
It was ugly. No shots on goal, hardly any threats and Alvoro Morata got a rare offside hat trick so the ball is only put to call three times.
Juventus have lost to Barca in the last four games without Ronaldo and have failed to beat Cr Crtone and Verona, scoring four goals in four games. Half of those goals came in a 2-0 win over Dynamo Kiev on Matchday 1.
This is a team that clearly relies and counts on Ronaldo’s production in third place, but it is also a club that is a painful average without him. With a managed schedule coming in, there could be more chances for Paulo Diabala and Morta to be coordinated, but Wednesday’s performance showed just how important Ronaldo is in making the team competitive.
McCann entered UCL to watch
American Weston McKinney is the only U.S.M.N.T. Was the guy, with Sergino Dest unused sub for Barska. McKinney watched the pitch for 15 minutes, widened a bit and had a lot of solid challenges. He equalized with a shot that hit poorly on the box, but it was good to see him back in the team after his Covid-19 diagnosis. His ability to move the ball forward with very few touches gave Juve a little spark, but bringing him back into the match was not that big.
