Socrates

Juventus player ratings v Club Brugge – Average marks across the team Juventus played a goalless draw against Club Brugge in the Champions League last night – here is our players’ rating. Michele Di Gregorio – 6.5 He did not have much to do as Brugge never had a shot on target. Nicolo Savona – 6.5 ............ Federico Gatti -7.0 ............ Pierre Kalulu 7.0 He and Gatti ensured Brugge’s dangerous men had frustrating nights. Andrea Cambiaso – 7.0 This was a much better performance from Cambiaso who did the important things well at left back. Douglas Luiz – 7.0 Luiz was in fine shape in this game, and he now has to build on this performance. Manuel Locatelli – 7.5 Locatelli was the best player on the pitch tonight, as he did well in the defensive phase and had the only shot on target. Samuel Mbangula 6.5 He gave Kyriani Sabbe a lot of trouble but couldn’t help Juve to find a goal. Teun Koopmeiner – 5.5 On nights like this, Juve will certainly need more than he offered today. Timothy Weah – 5,5 ............ Nicholas Gonzalez – 5.5 This was not a good day for Juventus’ attack; he should have done better. Substitutes Kenan Yildiz – 5.5 Juve expects so much when he comes on, but he didn’t make any difference today. Francisco Conceicao – 5.5 He was busy, but he lost the ball more times than he created chances. Khephren Thuram – 6.0 He made some driving runs through midfield but could not help to change the score. Dusan Vlahovic – 5.5 ............ Weston McKennie – 6.0 He helped Juve maintain balance when he came on. . Read more -> https://www.juvefc.com/juventus-player-ratings-v-club-brugge-average-marks-across-the-team/

Juventus’ Double Defensive Mission: Giuntoli Targets Kelly and Veiga as Chelsea Eye Douglas Luiz Juventus sporting director Cristiano Giuntoli is on a dual mission to bolster the club’s defence before the transfer window closes. The Bianconeri are pursuing Newcastle’s Lloyd Kelly and Chelsea’s Renato Veiga, with Giuntoli recently traveling to London to accelerate negotiations. Progress has been made in talks for Kelly, who offers versatility as both a full-back and centre-back. Newcastle have opened the door for a loan with an option to buy, but Juventus is cautious about exceeding their budget. The English defender’s ability to play multiple positions makes him an attractive target for the Italian giants. Simultaneously, discussions are ongoing with Chelsea regarding Portuguese defender Renato Veiga. During these negotiations, the name of Douglas Luiz has emerged as a point of interest for the London club. Chelsea is keen on a loan deal for the Brazilian midfielder, while Juventus prefers a permanent transfer to generate funds. ............ Amidst these defensive pursuits, Juventus is also finalizing the arrival of Randal Kolo Muani. Giuntoli expressed optimism about the transfer, stating, “I believe everything will be resolved shortly. They’re completing the final documents, and we should have it done by tomorrow at the latest.” ............ Giuntoli emphasized the club’s focus on strengthening rather than selling. “We don’t want to conduct outgoing transfers, but rather enhance the squad”. ............ . Read more -> https://www.footitalia.com/juventus-double-defensive-mission-giuntoli-targets-kelly-and-veiga-as-chelsea-eye-douglas-luiz/

Juventus 0 - Club Brugge 0: Initial reaction and random observations It’s the closing seconds of stoppage time Tuesday night and an unexpected name, Federico Gatti, jumps on a loose ball after Club Brugge wasn’t able to clear the ball by the corner flag. Gatti, as we know, loves a random moment to attack, and very much approached this situation with the kind of gusto you’d expect from him. He sent in a cross that needed just the slightest bit of touch on the ball to come close to one of his handful of teammates in the opposing penalty area. But instead of hitting the ball with that kind of finesse, it was hit with about as much steam as we saw from the shot that hit Gatti in the face earlier in the second half. If you wanted a total summation of Juventus’ ineffectiveness in the final third — as well as Gatti’s overall steez on the field — against Club Brugge, I feel like that moment is an appropriate one. The very impressive and extremely refreshing performance in all aspects that we saw from Juventus this past weekend against AC Milan was far from being there in Belgium. ............ Here’s the difference in how a win could have changed Juventus’ position in the Champions League table entering the second half of Matchday 7: Atalanta, the team that was directly above Juve in the league phase table, jumped up 10 spots into fourth place with their win over Sturm Graz. With Juventus’ third UCL league phase draw, they stayed ... basically right where they were at the start of the night. Instead, what we got was an overall performance that provided just two two shots total and a combined xG of 0.14 from Juve and Club Brugge in the first half. We can boast about Juventus recording the first shot on target of the night, but the catch with it is that it came through Manuel Locatelli’s long-range effort that was saved by Simon Mignolet in the 85th freaking minute. The 85th minute! As in five minutes before stoppage time in the second half. ............ But the inability to both create a lot and then actually take advantage of the little chances they did have certainly prevented Juventus from getting anything more than a draw Tuesday night. There were passes that were missed in the simplest kind of way. There were moments where a pass went one way and the run a Juve player was making went basically the other in a way that made you think about what the hell was going on. ............ In short, Juventus finished with five shots against Club Brugge. That’s it. Yet, amongst those chances, there were goals to be had. None of them were on target, but they should have been. Nico Gonzalez can tell you that. Teun Koopmeiners can tell you that. ............ RANDOM THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS ............ Guessing a lot of us didn’t think it would take until the third week of January for Douglas Luiz to make his first Champions League start with Juventus. But here we are. Juventus had 69% possession through the opening 20 minutes. Nice. Dusan Vlahovic entered Tuesday night’s game in the 76th minute. He recorded more key passes (1) than just about everybody in the starting lineup not named Nico Gonzalez. Speaking of Nico Gonzalez, that was a baaaaaaaaaaaaad miss. Holy smokes. ............ One more sub note: Did Motta take off Samuel Mbangula too soon? Something to ponder, my friends. It was good to see Mbangula play well against the first club he played for in the youth ranks. He didn’t look overwhelmed by a moment that surely brought back memories where things literally began for him, and doing well on home soil in Belgium was nice to see. Hopefully this resurgent Mbangula form only continues because it’s nice to see him playing well again. ............ Gatti was the one who was awarded the UEFA Man of the Match award. The picture of him holding said award did not look like a guy who was all that happy to be posing for it. Related note: Pierre Kalulu good. It just continues to be that way. Good, good, good. Tackles made by Kalulu: 5. Talkes made by the rest of Juventus: 3. I would like Koopmeiners to have another chance to put that header on target. It would be nice. Is that possible? ............ So now let’s see what version of Juventus shows when they head to Naples this weekend. Surely a Antonio Conte-led Napoli side that has had a week in between games will see this tepid Juve performance in attack and be licking their chops. Read more -> https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com/2025/1/22/24348861/juventus-club-brugge-2025-champions-league-final-score-result-initial-reaction-random-observations

Thiago Motta: ‘Juventus need more from the strikers’ Thiago Motta had harsh words for Juventus forwards after a dismal 0-0 draw with Club Brugge in the Champions League. ‘We didn’t create enough and I want more from the strikers.’ ............ Once again, they dominated possession, but hardly created any real scoring opportunities save for Nico Gonzalez tripping over the ball, a Teun Koopmeiners header wide and save on Manuel Locatelli’s long-range effort. “All the teams who have come here had problems against a side that defends very well and clams up. We didn’t suffer, but we also didn’t create enough to win the match,” Thiago Motta said. “It’s a pity, because we could’ve done better this evening, with all due respect for this team which had in other games scored on the counter-attack and then defended well to avoid letting their opponents back into the match. “They had very few scoring opportunities, they played the entire match waiting for us to make a mistake.” ............ “Finally, we are starting to get some players back from injury, above all in attack,” continued Thiago Motta. ............ “It is a way of staying balanced, Manu understands the right moment to drop deep or push forward. I want to see more of the strikers, because they have the quality to do it. Samuel tried more today, he was close to the opposition area and tried to cause problems with dribbling, but the other five I mentioned, I want to see more,” added Motta. ............ “Douglas Luiz is a player with superior technical quality, in good shape physically right now and did very well in recent matches. Everyone will get their opportunity to play, along with Khephren Thuram, Weston McKennie, Nicolò Fagioli, we have a lot of games and this means I can rotate and get the best out of all of them,” concluded Thiago Motta. Juventus have played 29 competitive games this season and drawn 15 of them, winning 12 with only two defeats. . Read more -> https://football-italia.net/thiago-motta-juventus-need-more-from-strikers/

Player ratings: Club Brugge 1-1 Juventus – Toothless attack, Locatelli precise Juventus’ second away goalless draw in a row in the Champions League proved enough to earn them a place in the top 24, but the Bianconeri managed a single shot on target against Club Brugge, once again highlighting a worrying attacking sterility. While Thiago Motta’s side also conceded little to the Belgian outfit, they remained goalless in the competition for the third time out of seven fixtures, with the prospect of getting direct access to the round-of-16 via the top eight now extremely unlikely. ............ Club Brugge 0-0 Juventus: player ratings Juventus: Di Gregorio 6; Savona 6, Gatti 6.5, Kalulu 6, Cambiaso 5.5; Locatelli 6.5, Douglas Luiz 6; Weah 5.5, Koopmeiners 5.5, Mbangula 6.5; Nico Gonzalez 5.5 Best Juventus player: Locatelli 6.5 – His contribution looks indispensable to make his side’s play more fluid, but in addition to serving as a midfield metronome, he also tested Mignolet in the closing minutes with one of Juventus’ most dangerous shots of the night. Unfortunately, his teammates up front make little use of his precise ball distribution. Coach: Thiago Motta 5.5 – It looks like Juventus’ attacking struggles keep hindering the team’s potential, especially on nights like these, when the Bianconeri fail to capitalise on their supremacy. While the Old Lady booked a place for the knockout league phase playoffs, their inability to win these kinds of games leaves them with a regret and must be addressed soon if they want to progress in the competition. ............ Club Brugge: Mignolet 6.5; Sabbe 6, Ordonez 6.5, Mechele 6.5, De Cuyper 6.5; Onyedika 6, Jashari 6; Talbi 6.5, Vanaken 6.5, Tzolis 5.5; Jutglà 6. Coach: Nicky Hayen 6.5 . Read more -> https://football-italia.net/player-ratings-club-brugge-1-1-juventus-tooth/

Giuntoli: ‘Kolo Muani tomorrow, Juventus don’t want to sell’ Juventus director Cristiano Giuntoli gives an update on Randal Kolo Muani and assures they ‘don’t want to sell anyone’ in January, even Douglas Luiz and Andrea Cambiaso. ............ The first question was inevitably about the on-going delays to register Randal Kolo Muani from Paris Saint-Germain, who cannot leave until the French side terminate one of their other loan deals. “The final documentation is being done, I think tomorrow at the latest we should have it sorted,” said Giuntoli. ............ “The objective is to get the maximum result, but the January transfer window is a tricky one and at times you don’t get where you wanted to go. “We will certainly bring in someone interesting who can give us a hand.” ............ How long will it take for Juventus to be genuinely competitive for the Scudetto race? “We are convinced that we can get back to being competitive very soon. Clearly, we only just started a new path this season, changing a lot of players, more will change this month and then in June, but we believe that we’ll soon be very competitive.” ............ “In all honesty, we don’t want to sell anyone, especially as Milik has been out from the start and we lost another two players to knee ligament injuries. “This is our intention, to keep the squad intact.” . Read more -> https://football-italia.net/giuntoli-kolo-muani-juventus-dont-want-to-sell/

Juventus and Club Brugge share the spoils in Champions League tonight Juventus and Club Brugge shared the spoils in a goalless draw in the Champions League tonight. Juventus knew they were facing a team that had been in fantastic form, and the Belgians made some interesting runs at the start. ............ The Bianconeri heeded that threat and began making it hard for their opponents to reach their goal. However, Juve was also struggling to create clear chances in the match as Club Brugge showed why they have been unbeaten for such a long time. ............ Teun Koopmeiners and Gustaf Nilsson came close to breaking the deadlock for their teams but could not. It wasn’t until the 85th minute that we had a shot on target as Manuel Locatelli forced a terrific save from Simon Mignolet. No other clear-cut chance came, and Juve missed the chance to win another game. . Read more -> https://www.juvefc.com/juventus-and-club-brugge-share-the-spoils-in-champions-league-tonight/

Dovevamo vincere stasera e poi contro il Benfica per cui ......

1 punt é megl che 0

Benfica-Barca 4-4

Dici che sono diventati veganisti?

Gol di Iling Junior per il Bologna

Conceicao meravilhao

C'é anche un parente di Pogba in Belgio

Derby fiammingo

Ci mangiamo anche noi un gol

Ci hanno quasi fregati. Di Gregorio fai il portiere non il libero.

Motta rimbrotta di brutto Weah

Ha portato fortuna contro il Milan, la ripropongo anche stasera.

I tifosi del Brugge ce l'hanno con Savona. Praticamente sparano sulla croce rossa.

Facciamo entrare Thuram, mister?

Thiago che colpo di tacco!

Il pareggio é meglio della sconfitta

Nico e Koop deludenti