Goals from Moise Kean, Timothy Weah and Dusan Vlahovic earned Juventus a pre-season win over Real Madrid on Wednesday night in Orlando, Florida.
Inside just one minute, Juventus took the lead through Moise Kean. The Italian forward tapped the ball into an empty net after some neat interplay on the edge of the box had culminated in Weston McKennie hitting the foot of the post with a side-footed effort.
Real Madrid almost levelled soon after, with Vinicius Junior seeing a wonderful curling effort from just inside the box be well saved by Wojciech Szczesny.
Vini and co. were made to rue that save in the 20th minute when Timothy Weah bagged his first goal for Juve. The USMNT international was cleverly squared the ball in the box by McKennie, and made no mistake with his subsequent prodded finish.
Madrid would do all they could to find a route back into the game thereafter. Joselu would miss a brilliant chance – curling round the post with only the goalkeeper to beat – and Jude Bellingham saw an effort saved by Szczesny, before Vinicius would finally make it 2-1 in the 38th minute.
The Brazilian was played through on goal by a stunning through ball from Toni Kross, and he made no mistake with his finish, chipping over Szczesny and into the net.
The Spanish side took that momentum into the second half, but were unable to nab an equaliser despite a particularly brilliant chance falling to Joselu. The Spanish forward was played through by Luka Modric, but was unable to direct his first time effort from around the penalty spot goalward.
Federico Valverde would also see a typically stunning strike from 30-yards loop over Szczensy and onto the crossbar before Juventus grabbed a game-killing third.
That third goal came courtesy of Dusan Vlahovic, with the striker just about managing to scramble the ball into the net at the back post after being found by Matias Soule.
Left without a genuine focal point in the team following Karim Benzema’s departure, Carlo Ancelotti has sought to bring back his classic 4-3-1-2 formation that served him so well at AC Milan in the early 2000s. So far, however, it’s not serving Madrid particularly well.
While the formation will allow Ancelotti to get the best out of Bellingham, the lack of width in the lineup has ultimately made Madrid look rather predictable during pre-season.
Joselu was originally signed as Benzema’s deputy, playing here and there to save the French star’s legs for the biggest games.
Now, however, due to Benzema leaving, the ex-Stoke City man looks set to play way more games than previously expected. Judging by Wednesday night’s performance, that isn’t a particularly good thing for Madrid.
It’s clear that they need a player of Kylian Mbappe’s to lead their line right now – not in 2024/25.
In a recent interview Weah exclaimed that he saw himself as a forward, and Juve fans around the world proceeded to laugh because every single one of them knew that Massimiliano Allegri was going to play the American as a wing-back.
That’s exactly where he played on Wednesday, and he did a bloody good job there too. His energy and work rate off the ball and quality on it – as exemplified by his goal – show that he’s a perfect replacement for Juan Cuadrado in this Juve setup…even if he doesn’t want to be.
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