Allegri makes his point, but Juventus needs Bonucci to make deep run

Paolo Bandini

58m ago

Reuters / Miguel Vidal Livepic

Perhaps Massimiliano Allegri does know a thing or two about substitutions after all. Juventus’ preparations for the Champions League visit to Porto had been overshadowed by a row with Leonardo Bonucci during Friday’s win over Palermo, which began when the defender tried to convince him to replace an exhausted Claudio Marchisio.

The dialogue between manager and defender descended rapidly into an exchange of insults. Bonucci would subsequently pay a steep price for his dissent. Fined and excluded from the squad to face Porto, he wound up watching Wednesday’s game alongside Pavel Nedved and Beppe Marotta in a director’s box.

Perched awkwardly on a stool in the corner, he could only watch as his team laboured through an unconvincing 72 minutes before snatching victory with a pair of goals from players that Allegri introduced off the bench.

Marko Pjaca will take the headlines, as the man who eventually broke the deadlock. This was his first goal in a Juventus shirt, something supporters in Turin have been awaiting impatiently ever since the Croatian completed his €23-million transfer from Dinamo Zagreb in the summer.

A fractured fibula kept him out of action from October through to December, but his performances either side of that enforced absence had also been unconvincing. Pjaca insisted that “scoring is not an obsession for me” during an interview with Tuttosport last September, but he had also failed to provide so much as an assist in 13 appearances.

Related – Subs to the rescue: Pjaca, Alves lift Juventus past 10-man Porto

By striding through to sweep an excellent finish beyond Iker Casillas at the Estadio do Dragao, he has bought himself some time. The unfortunate reality of life as a young player at a club pursuing titles is that you will only get so many chances to prove that you can contribute something concrete.

His goal, though, might have done even more to boost the cause of Allegri himself. This had previously been a tepid performance from Juventus, on a night when things ought to have been so much more straightforward.

With superior quality throughout the side, the Italian champion was at an advantage even before Porto’s Alex Telles got himself sent off with a pair of astonishingly unnecessary bookings. Having planted his studs into Juan Cuadrado’s heel in the 25th minute, he waited just 74 seconds before carving into Stephan Lichtsteiner.

His dismissal stripped away any hint of attacking ambition from an already cautious Porto team. Telles was a key weapon through the group stage, registering the third-most successful crosses of any player in the competition. If losing him was not damaging enough to the hosts’ chances of troubling that Bonucci-less Juventus defence, then the subsequent withdrawal of top scorer Andre Silva for a full-back, Miguel Layun, sealed the deal.

Porto settled back into a 4-4-1 formation, rarely venturing out of its own half, and yet Juventus looked for a long time as though it might lack the tools to unpick the host side. From endless possession the Bianconeri carved out the odd chance, but lacked tempo and vision.

The Bianconeri also lacked Bonucci, a man whose range of passing from the back often helps in situations such as this. It speaks volumes that the closest the visitor came to scoring – one wrongly disallowed effort aside – was on a Paulo Dybala shot which struck the post from 20 yards out.

Even Pjaca’s goal had a somewhat coincidental feel. The Croatian took his finish excellently, but the ball had been diverted into his path by Layun – that same player who only made it onto the pitch as a result of Telles’ stupidity. Dybala’s original through-ball was intended not for Pjaca but for Lichtsteiner.

Juventus’ second goal had a little more craft. Alex Sandro picked out Allegri’s second substitute, Dani Alves, with a cross from the left and the Brazilian chested it down before firing into the top corner.

Allegri’s point was made, his authority over this team re-exerted.

Juventus had not been been a joy to watch, but emerged with a 2-0 victory that leaves the Italian side with one foot in the quarter-finals of this season’s Champions League. Allegri’s men did it with their best defender watching from the stands.

Even so, all parties need to choose their paths from here wisely. Tougher tests lie ahead in this competition, and not every opponent will be so generous in reducing itself to 10 men (even it has happened already once this season, away to Sevilla).

Juventus’ hopes of winning the Champions League would look an awful lot better with Bonucci stood on the pitch, instead of peering down from the stands.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)