Sunday’s friendly against Borussia Dortmund was always going to be a major step up in competition from what Juventus faced their first time out this preseason. Not only was it a steep increase in the level of talent when comparing a side from Serie B to one of the Bundesliga’s best squads, but it was against a Dortmund team that is essentially a week ahead in preparations for the new season even with this summer being anything but something you would consider normal thanks to the Club World Cup.
But here’s the thing: Juve’s trip to Germany turned out to be pretty OK.
Which, honestly, is something we haven’t always been able to say when it comes to Juventus and friendlies in recent years.
Thanks to the first of Andrea Cambiaso’s two goals and a strong finish to the first half, Juventus were able to settle into Sunday’s proceedings and put forward a relatively solid performance and record a 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park. Like any friendly that’s a couple of weeks before a new season begins, there were good things to take place and some things that clearly give you reason for at least some light concern. We know this Juventus team is far from one that would be considered a finished product or a title contender considering all of the question marks still around, but Igor Tudor will come out of his Sunday in Dortmund with some things to build off of as the Bianconeri head back to Turin.
So let’s just go ahead and lay out a couple of those, shall we?
The good: The two goals, especially the second one.
The not-so-good: Joao Mario leaves a lot to be desired on the defensive end.
The good: How Juventus shook off a shaky kind of start and settled in after Cambiaso’s opener in the 16th minute.
The not-so-good: The build-up to Cambiaso’s goal and subsequent celebration thwarting Dortmund’s plan to sub out Mats Hummels in the 15th minute to match his jersey number as the club bid farewell to the player who has played the second-most amount of games in their fabled black and yellow kit.
OK, so that last one is a bit of a tongue and cheek one, but the other stuff still remains. There were good things to take out of Juve’s friendly against Dortmund on top of the simple fact that they won the game. To me, this summer feels like a complete guessing game as to what kind of shape these players will be in at this point of time considering the Club World Cup happened when it did, the fact that Juve’s biggest summer signing thus far was playing in a continental tournament with his national team and these guys have just gotten so little time to actually recharge their bodies over the last couple of years.
Essentially, maybe the biggest thing for Juventus was that they didn’t look completely out of their depths against Dortmund. I know that’s a low bar, but that’s essentially how I’ve come to think about friendlies — and especially those that happen in a summer in which nothing is conventional and the players only got a couple of weeks off.
But there’s also the reality that this time next weekend, Juventus’ full attention when it comes to on-field matters will be focused on the season opener against Parma seven days later. The season is close enough that you can’t help but start to seriously think about it no matter how many friendlies Juventus might have remaining between now and then. (For the record, it’s two, first against the Next Gen squad and then Atalanta.)
So the push to be ready for Parma’s visit to the Allianz Stadium is certainly being ramped up a level with this friendly now in the books. The good is that Tudor will definitely have some positives to take home with him, too.
