Juventus vs Inter Milan: 5 men who were brilliant for Juventus
Juventus traveled to the Nanjing Olympic Sports Cente to face Inter Milan in the International Champions Cup on Wednesday. It was billed as a clash of the titans in the Serie A, enacted far from home, however, both clubs were coming into the game on the back of defeats.
Inter Milan had lost to Manchester United in their first game of the tournament and were looking to bounce back. Juventus too had lost an entertaining encounter with Tottenham Hotspur, despite scoring 2 goals in the game.
Both teams were trying to start fresh under the stewardship of new managers. While Antonio Conte had been frustrated by the lack of transfer activity at Inter, Maurizio Sarri had no such complaints. The Serie A champions had invested heavily in the transfer market, combining big-money signings with free transfers and it was now time for Sarri to get the results.
The Italian started with Wojciech Szczesny in goal, with Joao Cancelo, Matthijs de Ligt, Leonardo Bonucci and Mattia De Sciglio making up a back four. Adrien Rabiot started alongside Miralem Pjanic and Blaise Matuidi in midfield, while upfront, Gonzalo Higuain resumed as the focal point of attack alongside Federico Bernardeschi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Serie A champions were in for a shocker at the start, when new signing Matthijs de Ligt scored an own goal in the 10th minute. However, Ronaldo equalized for Juventus in the 68th minute. The game then went into penalties, where Juventus won the game 4-3.
Sarri finally achieved his first win as a Juventus manager and here are the 5 players who impressed for Juventus in the game.
#5 Gianluigi Buffon
The veteran goalkeeper replaced Szczesny during the break and had a comfortable second half, making a couple of saves and helping Juventus keep things simple at the back. However, his qualities were evident during the tiebreaker, where he made three stops to help Juventus win the game.
Gianluigi Buffon stopped Inter’s first spot-kick, from Ranocchia, and then also denied Longo. He eventually kept out Valero’s kick and helped Juventus win on penalties. There's no denying the fact that Buffon still has the abilities to perform at the highest level!