Juventus Player Ratings vs Atalanta: Cabal’s First Enough for One Point

Juventus and Atalanta shared the spoils in an enthralling 1-1 draw at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday night. One of Serie A’s standout fixtures of the weekend lived up to its billing.

Keen to bounce back from a 1-1 stalemate at Hellas Verona, Juventus got the game off to a flying start as Pierre Kalulu hit the woodwork only two minutes in. Despite creating several half-chances after that, Igor Tudor’s side entered the halftime break on the back foot.

Indeed, Atalanta’s marquee summer signing, Kamalden Sulemana, scored a delightful solo goal on the stroke of halftime to break the deadlock. La Dea nearly doubled their lead at the start of the second half. Yet, Nikola Krstovic fluffed his lines in a one-on-one against Michele Di Gregorio.

Juventus made Atalanta pay dearly for Krstovic’s blunder as Juan Cabal scored his first-ever goal for the club to level the score. However, it’s worth noting that Odilon Kossounou’s epic mistake was the only reason the Colombian had a chance to put the ball past Marco Carnesecchi in the first place.

When Marten de Roon received his second yellow card of the game, it looked like Juventus could turn the game on its head. And they came agonizingly close, only for Weston McKennie to waste a glorious opportunity in the 89th minute. In the end, Juventus maintained their unbeaten league start but failed to win for the second time in a row.

Without further ado, let’s look at our player ratings.

Juventus (3-4-2-1)

Michele Di Gregorio – 6/10

It was a quiet night for the Juventus goalkeeper, who only had to make one save. Sulemana’s inch-perfect finish left him helpless on the goal line.

Lloyd Kelly – 8/10

The English defender held his ground against Lazar Samardzic and made numerous crucial interceptions on either side of halftime.

Gleison Bremer – 7/10

Back to the starting XI after being rested against Verona, the Brazilian star enjoyed a superb start, making a vital block to deny Sulemana. However, his misjudgement nearly led to Atalanta’s second.

Federico Gatti – 6/10

Caught off guard for Atalanta’s opener, Gatti had several lapses of concentration, often failing to inspire confidence. Struggled to find his footing tonight.

Pierre Kalulu – 7/10

Unlucky not to score less than 120 seconds into the game, with the post denying his decent header. Despite failing to offer much in attack since, the Frenchman held up his end of the bargain defensively.

Teun Koopmeiners – 7/10

Heavily involved in the build-up play, the former Atalanta midfielder delivered his best performance under Tudor, even though he couldn’t unlock La Dea’s backline with a killer pass.

Khephren Thuram – 6/10

Saw his long-range shot deflected awkwardly, but not enough to beat Carnesecchi. However, he was calm and composed in possession, not to mention his commendable defensive contribution.

Andrea Cambiaso – 5/10

It was an atypically disappointing evening for the Italian wingback as he found little space down the left flank. On top of that, he had a nightmare defending against Raoul Bellanova.

Vasilije Adzic – 4/10

His recklessness on the ball allowed Sulemana to open the scoring, and the youngster could never recover from that unfortunate moment.

Kenan Yildiz – 6/10

The Turkish starlet tried to be Juventus’ driving force in the final third, enjoying plenty of possession and making a couple of dangerous-looking crosses.

Lois Openda – 5/10

A frustrating first start in Serie A for the quicksilver forward, who spent most of the evening cut off from the rest of the pack.

Substitutions

Weston McKennie – 7/10

Dusan Vlahovic – 5/10

Joao Mario – 6/10