Serie A | Juventus 1-1 Sassuolo – Player Ratings: Muric saves Neroverdi from Yildiz-inspired Bianconeri
Juventus were held to a 1-1 draw by Sassuolo at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday evening, with a first half goal from Kenan Yildiz cancelled out by an Andrea Pinamonti equaliser in the second.
Late in the match, Sassuolo goalkeeper Arijanet Muric saved a Manuel Locatelli penalty, after a Jay Idzes handball.
Football Italia’s Man of the Match was Muric, for his penalty save and numerous other chances that kept Sassuolo in the game and earned them a hard-fought point. Meanwhile, Pinamonti, Yildiz and Francisco Conceicao also deserve praise for competent performances.
Juventus 1-1 Sassuolo – Player Ratings
Juventus: Perin 6.5; Kalulu 6.5, Bremer 5.5, Kelly 6 (Vlahovic 6.5), Cambiaso 5.5 (Miretti 5.5); Thuram 5.5 (Koopmeiners 5.5), Locatelli 5; Conceicao 7 (Zhegrova N/A), McKennie 5.5, Boga 5.5 (Milik 6); Yildiz 7
Best Juventus player: Kenan Yildiz – To nobody’s surprise, was once again the best Juventus player on the pitch. Took his goal well from the edge of the box to give the Bianconeri the lead and was unlucky not to have an assist, despite creating several great chances.
Lowest Juventus rating: Manuel Locatelli – Penalty miss aside, he was ineffective and struggled to leave his mark on the midfield. Then, when you factor in the penalty, which was saved well by Muric, turns into a pretty bad day at the office for the Italian.
Coach: Luciano Spalletti 6 – Couldn’t quite get his side to work right this evening, the coach will be frustrated after missing out on the three points. His substitutes added little to their efforts to score a late winner, aside from Dusan Vlahovic winning the penalty, although it was nice to see both Vlahovic and Milik back in action.
Sassuolo: Muric 8; Walukiewicz 5.5, Idzes 5.5, Muharemovic 7, Garcia 5.5; Kone 6, Vranckx 5.5 (Iannoni N/A), Bakola 5.5 (Lauriente 6); Berardi 6.5 (Doig N/A), Pinamonti 7 (Nzola N/A), Volpato 6.5 (Lipani 6)
Best Sassuolo Player: Arijanet Muric – The Sassuolo shot-stopper was in fine form tonight. The cream of the crop was his save to deny Locatelli from the penalty spot but he made another excellent save shortly after and was alert all evening.
Lowest Sassuolo rating: Jay Idzes – May feel slightly hard done-by when the referee judged him to have committed a late handball that saw the Bianconeri get a penalty. However, it was a careless mistake and he looked the shakiest of the Neroverdi back four this evening.
Coach: Fabio Grosso 7 – Did everything right to frustrate his counterpart this evening, tried not to disrupt the status quo too much with his changes but ultimately has Muric to thank for the point this evening.