Fiorentina 0-0 Juventus: Halftime tops and flops
Juventus, despite all their star power, are in the midst of an unprecedented injury crisis. Paulo Dybala, Juan Cuadrado, Douglas Costa, and Blaise Matuidi are all out for a significant amount of time which has necessitated manager Max Allegri to mix and match with players on his bench to fill the voids.
FLOP:
VAR – A massive controversy erupted from the 18th – 22nd minutes when Giorgio Chiellini was called for a handball. However, four minutes and a VAR review later, Giovanni Simeone was determined to be offsides prior to Chiellini’s infraction, negating a penalty kick. It took way too long and caused tons of confusion.
FLOP:
VAR – After the lengthy and confusing delay, it STILL got the call wrong. The play should not have been ruled offside because Juventus defender Alex Sandro was the last player to touch it prior to Fiorentina shooting it off Chiellini’s arm. Just a horrible sequence all around, for the referees and the league.
TOP:
Federico Bernardeschi – A talented young playmaker, he has been forced to remain out of the spotlight due to Juventus’ immense depth. However, he’s finally getting his opportunity due to the rash of injuries. Unfortunately, he’s also hurt and playing through pain. Though, through the first 45 minutes, you wouldn’t have known as he filled in well.
FLOP:
Claudio Marchisio – Similarly to Bernardeschi, he has been overshadowed throughout his Juventus career (which is considerably longer than Bernardeschi’s), but is getting his opportunity with injuries. However, he had a rough first 45 minutes, which saw him give a number of balls away; the worst of which just outside his own penalty box in the first 15 minutes. Fortunately for him and Juventus, the Fiorentina player stumbled.