Dynamo Kyiv 0-2 Juventus: 5 talking points as Alvaro Morata brace helps the Old Lady secure a win | UEFA Champions League 2020-21
Juventus kicked off their UEFA Champions League 2020-21 campaign with a comfortable 2-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv as striker Alvaro Morata bagged a brace in absence of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Andrea Pirlo registered a win in his first game in charge of the club in the Champions League as the Italian giants maintained control over the game throughout the 90 minutes.
Heorhiy Bushchan put in an inspired performance between the sticks for Dynamo Kyiv and produced some remarkable saves in the first half to deny Federico Chiesa and Dejan Kulusevski from close range.
However, it merely took seconds after the restart for Juventus to break the deadlock as Aaron Ramsey and Kulusevski combinedĀ well in the final third to find Morata, who scored with his first sight on goal.
Dynamo Kyiv rarely threatened Juventus as most of their moves going forward fizzled out before reaching the visitors' box. The Old Lady sealed the outcome of the game after Morata secured his second goal with a fine header from Juan Cuadrado's right-wing cross.
Here, we take a look at the five talking points from the game as Pirlo defeats his former boss Mircea Lucescu.
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#5 Mounting injury concerns for Juventus
Juventus have seen a lot of players on the treatment table since the beginning of the campaign. The injury concerns for the Serie A giants are unlikely to go away anytime soon as captain Giorgio Chiellini picked up a fresh hip injury in their win over Dynamo Kyiv on Tuesday night.
The veteran defender limped off in the 19th minute of the game, possibly due toĀ a hip flex that might be a result of the recent international fixtures. Pirlo also confirmed that forward Paulo Dybala, who made an appearance from the bench, is not a 100% fit.
Cristiano Ronaldo remains unavailable for their upcoming fixtures as he is in self-isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, and so is Weston McKennie. Matthijs De Ligt has resumed partial training but still needs time before he can mark his return. Giorgio ChielliniĀ is also said to be unavailable.
With a big game against Barcelona coming up next week, Pirlo will be hoping that he does not have to deal with any new injury concerns in the upcoming fixtures.
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#4 Impressive performances from the youngsters
Juventus did not have a great game against Dynamo Kyiv but one of the positives that Pirlo can take away from the game was the impressive performances of Federico Chiesa and Dejan Kulusevski.
Pirlo has given both players significant game time so farĀ this season, and they have started to come into their own. Chiesa was particularly effective on the left flank as a wing-back and made multiple threatening runs into the Dynamo box in the first half.
Kulusevski is one of the most exciting players to watch out for in Serie A this season, and the ease with which he performs tricks and flicks to get away from his opponents was truly impressive. He also took most of the corner kicks and delivered some great balls into the box.
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