Consider what lies ahead for Juventus after today’s 2-2 draw with Galatasaray. Rounds three and four are a home-and-home with Real Madrid. Round six is a trip to Istanbul. Juventus should still be favored to get out of their group, but if Galatasaray sweep their two games with Copenhagen, things get very interesting this time next month. The Italian champions could close group stage with a must-win at the Türk Telekom Arena.
That’s one possibility after today’s the result, the second straight game where Juventus got one point from a match they were expected to win. Last round, the Old Lady was held to a 1-1 in Copenhagen, missing out on points against the group’s weakest side. Today, Didier Drogba took advantage of a Juventus mistake on the opener, with Umut Bulut’s 88th minute equalizer pulling back a lead snatched by Arturo Vidal and Fabio Quagliarella.
It was a match where, despite their obvious quality, Juventus never saw profits from their control. In the 37th minute, an under-hit backpass for Leonardo Bonucci created the first goal, Drogba finishing into an open net Gianluigi Buffon was compelled to abandon. It was the 78th minute before Juve equalized, a contentious penalty call allowing Vidal to convert from the spot, while Quagliarella (brought on early for an injured Mirko Vucinic) headed home a Andrea Pirlo cross in the 86th minute, apparently giving Juventus a win in Roberto Mancini’s Gala debut.
But two minutes later, when Drogba headed down for Bulut, the script flipped, and not just in terms of this match. Instead of sitting on four points and sitting three clear of third place, Juventus are pulled back to two points, scarcely ahead of both Galatasaray and Copenhagen. Now, instead of last round’s result looking like a point found on the road, it becomes a lost chance to offset the points they dropped today.
Those are Group B’s dynamics. More worrisome is Juventus’s actual play. Though they’re near perfect in Serie A (5-0-1), their recent results have evoked their form of two years ago, where close calls and late comebacks defined their title campaign. This weekend against Torino, a second half winner from Paul Pogba obscured the fact the Bianconeri just weren’t playing that well (at least, not close to their potential). Carried over into Europe, that form saw them drop points.
With Carlos Tévez and Fernando Llorente joining the team this summer, Juventus looked set to push on, transferring their Serie A success into Champions League. That clearly hasn’t happened, and seeing how Italy’s other Champions League teams are performing, we have to start considering whether we can infer any more from Juventus’s Italian titles than we can from Porto’s in Portugal or Ajax’s in the Netherlands. Serie A is clearly above those standards, but when you see Napoli so far behind Arsenal’s pace while Milan struggle needs a late penalty to get a result in Amsterdam, it’s worth keeping in mind. The demise of Serie A may be overlooked in some’s excitement about Juventus.
As far as this year’s tournament goes, it’s only two games. Juventus has plenty of time to recover. And when judging Serie A as a whole, it’s only been six games. There isn’t enough information to transform our ideas into conclusions.
But with Juventus struggling, it may be time for new ideas. Antonio Conte will need to come up with a few to get Juventus results against Real Madrid.