If there\u2019s one conclusion to make after Juventus\u2019 Champions League match against Villarreal on Wednesday, it\u2019s to confirm what we knew from the balance of the 2024-25 season: without Gleison Bremer in the lineup, Juventus\u2019 defense becomes very shaky.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
So it was at the Estadio de la Cer\u00e1mica, where the Old Lady\u2019s defense was burned early and switched off late against the team that eliminated them from this competition in 2022. Without the Brazilian\u2019s steadying presence, the defenders that Igor Tudor did deploy were repeatedly scorched by pace in the early phases, then disappeared at precisely the wrong time at the end of the game, giving away the lead at the last minute and condemning Juve to a 2-2 draw.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Those failures largely obscure what happened in between. Juventus responded well to going down early, had some chances to equalize in the first half, and then flipped the game on its head in a span of five minutes early in the second. That, perhaps, is the second thing to take away from Wednesday\u2019s game: that Juve continue to confirm that they are a far stronger team mentally than they have been in years, and are fully equipped to respond to a setback on the pitch if it comes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Yes, you want Juventus to make those responses and then hold<\/em> them, but the very fact that they can do it is a silver lining to their fourth straight draw in all competitions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tudor was missing Kh\u00e9phren Thuram, Fabio Miretti, and Arkadiusz Milik in addition to Bremer. He made the surprising decision to rotate in goal and start Mattia Perin over Michele Di Gregorio behind his 3-4-2-1. Pierre Kalulu, Federico Gatti, and Lloyd Kellyn started in front of the goal in a 3-4-2-1. Andrea Cambiaso and Juan Cabal started on the wings, flanking the midfield pair of Manuel Locatelli and Weston McKennie. Teun Koopmeiners joined Kenan Yildiz in support of Jonathan David in attack.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Villarreal manager Marcelino Garcia countered with a 4-3-3. Interestingly, Marcelino also chose to use his No. 2 goalkeeper, sending out Arnau Tenas to anchor the defense of Santiago Mouri\u00f1o, old friend Renato Veiga, Rafa Marin, and Alfonso Pedraza. Papa Gueye, Dani Parejo, and Santi Comesa\u00f1a played in midfield, while Nicolas Pep\u00e9, Georges Mikautadze, and Tajon Buchanan formed the attacking trident.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It immediately became apparent that Villarreal\u2019s pace was going to be a problem for Juve\u2019s back line. Six minutes into the game Cabal was booked after taking down Pep\u00e9 at the edge of the penalty area after the Ivorian burned him. A minute later another move forced a double block by Locatelli and Yildiz\u2014the latter of which struck the young Turk in a place that may raise questions about future generations of Yildiz.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Pep\u00e9 soon blew past Cabal again, this time going down theatrically in the box after taking a light touch in the back from the Colombian. Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs saw through the ruse, but whether Tudor could afford to keep Cabal on the field even for the rest of the first half was becoming a serious question. It became a moot point just a few minutes later, when Cabal pulled up after trying to send a long pass downfield and ended up being helped off the field by trainers, replaced by Jo\u00e3o M\u00e1rio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Villarreal kept on breaking Juve\u2019s press and battering them with lightning-fast runs downfield. In the 17th minute, they broke through. Parejo took advantage of a space opened up by Kelly after the Englishman allowed himself to get sucked into midfield. Splitting Gatti and Cambiaso, Mikautadze charged through the gap. The defenders managed to disrupt him, but the ball squeaked out to Pep\u00e9. Meanwhile, Mikautadze regained his feet and had open grass to run into and latch on to the Ivorian\u2019s square ball and slam it across Perin and into the net.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Minutes after play resumed the home team scythed through Juve again, and Perin had to show out to divert Pedraza\u2019s shot from the left side of the box onto the far post. Juve took the rebound on the shot and executed a lightning counter of their own. A shot by Yildiz was charged down and deflected into the air, but Tenas\u2019s weak punch only put the ball on the head of a charging McKennie. The US international\u2019s header was central as opposed to a corner, allowing Tenas to just<\/em> tip the ball over the bar when it looked for a moment like it would go through his hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That run seemed to make the Bianconeri realize that they could, in fact, play offensive football, and as the half wore on, they turned into the aggressor. McKennie got under a shot and ballooned it over, while a first-time rocket from Yildiz was charged down by Mouri\u00f1o. McKennie had another header stopped by Tenas just before the half-hour, and despite a late scare at the end of the half when Perin was forced to push away a near-post shot from Buchanan, they went into the locker room the team with the lion\u2019s share of possession and had mounted several dangerous attacks. It felt like, with the right tweaks, the Bianconeri would be able to climb back into the match.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That tweak came as soon as the teams came back out of the tunnel. Francisco Concei\u00e7\u00e3o was summoned from the bench to replace an ineffective Koopmeiners. The diminutive winger-turned-CAM made an instant impact, and Juve should\u2019ve drawn level within 120 seconds when the Portuguese collected a pass, moved into the box, and laid the ball perfectly into the path of David. The Canadian somehow contrived to miss, clanking it off his heel and wide when a simple tap-in looked certain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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