While United relied on Cristiano Ronaldo's 91st-minute goal to force a draw against Atalanta, Juve easily defeated Zenit, advancing to the Champions League knockout rounds two times in advance while winning four consecutive wins.
Juve's victory in this campaign was attributed to Dybala, who scored twice and scored three goals. In the post-C Ronaldo era, the Argentines once again became the "thighs" of the Bianconeri.
A precursor to winning the championship?
Needless to say, after completing nine consecutive Serie A titles, Agnelli's number one goal is to get the Big Ears Trophy and break the spell of not winning the Champions League, which may be the real reason why he decided to sign C Ronaldo.
However, after the Arrival of the Portuguese, Juve's performance in the Champions League has deteriorated, and even stopped in the Round of 16 for two consecutive seasons. Even in the group stage, Juve's performance was not perfect. In his three seasons with Cristiano Ronaldo, Juve have never won all of their first four group games, with the best result being 3 wins and 1 draw in 2019-20.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a real goalscoring machine, however, the portuguese addition has made Juve lose their "identity" and lose the characteristics of relying on the whole.
Despite the ups and downs of Serie A this season, Juve have performed quite well in the Champions League. After the victory over Zenit, Juve won the Champions League group stage four times in a row, which was the third time in the history of the team that they had won four consecutive group stages.
It is worth emphasizing that the previous two first four wins were in the 1995-96 and 2004-05 seasons, and in both seasons, the Bianconeri won the Champions League.
While winning four in a row, Juve also set two records. First, for the first time since playing against Ferencvaros in November 2020, Juve have scored four goals in a single game in the Champions League.
Secondly, for the first time since November 1997, Juve scored in 10 consecutive games in the Champions League, when it was 19 consecutive games.
At least from the performance of the Champions League, Juve survived the short "vacuum period" after cristiano Ronaldo left and recovered the characteristics of relying on the whole. However, Juve's performance in the Champions League and Serie A is like ice and fire, the same 4 wins, Juve in Serie A has spent 11 games.
Dybala is resurrected
Juve was able to quickly solve Cristiano Ronaldo's dependence, and the key reason was that Dybala regained his feelings.
Just like Benzema quickly "took over" after Cristiano Cristiano left Real Madrid, the departure of the Portuguese also made Dybala once again become the thigh of the team.
Against Zenit, Dybala not only scored twice, but also provided an assist for Morata. It was his first two consecutive Champions League goals since October 2018 and the first time he had scored more than one goal in a single game since October 2019 against Lokomotiv Moscow.
In 10 appearances in all competitions this season, Dybala has been involved in 10 goals (6 goals and 4 assists), even more than the number of goals scored last season. In the 2020-21 season, Dybala made 8 goals in 26 appearances, scoring 5 goals and providing 3 assists.
After C Ronaldo joined, Dybala became a "victim". As Juve's attacking core, Dybala had to make way for the Portuguese, even losing the main position in the 2018-19 season, and the Argentine returned to silence last season after a brief rebound in the 2019-20 season.
Unlike the leafy Benzema, Dybala is accustomed to possession, breakthrough and shooting, and when he can't get more touches, Dybala's performance is greatly reduced. When owning Cristiano Ronaldo, Juve's attack often emphasizes the horizontal and oblique passes of the wing, which makes Dybala's position quite awkward.
Once Cristiano Ronaldo left, Dybala quickly returned to his position as the tactical core. It is a little regrettable that in the golden age of his career, Dybala wasted three years.
Sleeping Beauty reappears in the green field
After the volley, Dybala scored Juve's 105th career goal, surpassing Platini's goal count. After scoring, Dybala lay on the lawn, holding his cheek with one hand, and made platini's classic move.
Why do you do this? Dybala revealed, "Platini is a true icon for me and fans all over the world. I hope he will watch this game, against Inter, I chased down his goal count and I wanted to celebrate that, but that game was not for me to do that. ”
However, Dybala may have misunderstood Platini's move. In the 1985 Toyota Cup, Platini scored with a beautiful volley, but because his teammates were in an offside position, the referee ruled that the goal was invalid, and Platini made such a move.
A world wave was struck, but it was blown away by the referee, which made Platini grumble, "I was lying on the lawn, thinking that I would either accept the punishment or kill the referee." ”
Since then, Platini's move has been imitated by many players, the most famous player is Laudrup. In the 1998 World Wave vs. Brazil, Laudrup celebrated "Sleeping Beauty" after scoring the goal.
Ronaldo's performance at Manchester United is not surprising, and Juve fans are no strangers to the Portuguese scoring a deadly scene. However, compared to Manchester United, who stumbled, 4 wins, 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat, Juve's four consecutive wins are clearly better, and this is precisely the importance of relying on the whole.