Juventus 3-0 Bayer Leverkusen: 3 Reasons Why the Bianconeri were victorious against the Germans
Having dispatched SPAL in the league just a few days ago, Juventus saw off a potential banana peel fixture against Bayer Leverkusen successfully. Goals coming from Gonzalo Higuain, Federico Berardeschi, and Cristiano Ronaldo gave the Old Lady all three points as Bayer barely registered a threat.
The visitors showed plenty of activity all game, but Bayer couldn't get a shot on target all game. They failed to test what appeared to be a makeshift defence that appeared unsettled every time they played a diagonal ball.
Despite the visitors starting the game at breakneck speed, it was Juventus who got the breakthrough in the 17th minute. Both sides continued to underwhelm for the rest of the half, but the Italians looked perhaps a shade better.
The second half was when the Bianconeri stepped it up and clinched another goal in the 61st minute to give themselves a cushion. Juventus would continue to create chances and looked like they would comfortably close out the game as they notched a cherry on the proverbial cake with Ronaldo netting in the 88th minute.
Although the Portuguese appeared to be out of sorts for most of the game, he improved significantly in the last quarter with Dybala and Ramsey beside him, and it resulted in a goal created for him by the Argentine.
#1 Matthijs de Ligt's anticipation
The 20-year-old took plenty of flak in his early games for Juventus as he committed some schoolboy errors that on a number of occasions nearly cost his team the game. But against Bayer Leverkusen, he appeared assured of himself and largely back to his astute defending style built on a good reading of the game.
As Juventus defended narrowly with their entire team squeezed into the central areas of the pitch, De Ligt's anticipation to cut out any potential threats through the middle or down the side was in full display. The Dutch defender seems like he's starting to feel at home in Italy if this is a sign of things to come.