Juventus will visit Atalanta's Atleti Azzurri d'Italia in round 13 of Serie A 2019-2020 without the service of Ronaldo. Coach Sarri decided to remove the Portuguese striker from the squad due to injury.
Without the service of Ronaldo in the forward line, Juventus had many difficulties in accessing Atalanta's goal. In heavy rain, Atalanta's playing style is muscle-oriented, and his speed makes the "Old Lady" even more confused. The game on the pitch was even balanced when both teams played "eat a piece, return a piece". In the 17th minute, a disaster came to Juventus when midfielder Sami Khedira let the ball touch his hand in the penalty area. Fine Atalanta but Musa Barrow squandered the opportunity when he hit the crossbar.
In the second half of the match, coach Gian Piero Gasperini instructed his players to play an open game against Juventus. This surprised the defending champions. With Atalanta's strong and determined play, the "Old Reeds" of Turin made mistakes.
In the 56th minute, Musa Barrow - a player who missed 11m in the first half with a brave dribble on the right wing, eliminated Juventus' full-back and then crossed accurately for Robin Gosens to comfortably head the ball past goalkeeper Szczesny, opening the score of the match.
Immediately after conceding, coach Sarri sent Douglas Costa to replace Rodrigo Bentancur. However, Juventus' attacking situation still did not improve much. Not only that, due to raising the squad to find an equalizer, the away team left many gaps and was counterattacked by Atalanta.
In the time of encountering countless difficulties against Atalanta, Juventus was helped by luck. In the 74th minute, from a messy ball in front of Atalanta's penalty area, Higuain fired a shot with his left foot, the ball softly hit the home team's defender and flew into the net to the surprise of goalkeeper Gollini, equalizing 1-1 for the "Old Lady".
8 minutes later, Higuain completed his own double with a simple close-range tap-in from Juan Cuadrado.
With nothing left to lose after the second goal, Atalanta played shoulder to shoulder with Juventus. Due to raising their formation to attack, the home team could not ensure solidity in defense. As a result, Dybala kicked them into the net in the 90+1 minute from a quick counter-attack, sealing a 3-1 victory for the away team.
Winning all 3 points against Atalanta, Juventus has 35 points/13 matches, 4 points more than Inter Milan but has played 1 more match. Meanwhile, Atalanta still have 22 points, in 5th place, but have played 1 more match than the 6th-placed team Roma.
