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Juventus 1 - FC Copenhagen 1: Instant reaction and random observations

By Danny Penza
Marco Luzzani

I'm starting to think that there is a hex around Juventus whenever they take a trip to Denmark. If you want to disagree with me, go right ahead and do so. But

Juventus had 33 total shots in their trip to Denmark last year. They recorded 27 total shots against FC Copenhagen on Tuesday night. That's 60 shots towards a Danish goal in two games, a number where you'd think Antonio Conte's men would fly back to Turin with a bunch of goals to their pocket and feeling good about their performance.

Not so fast. Juventus left both of those games with 1-1 draws.

Chances were created. But with those chances came world-class saves from a 32-year-old goalkeeper having a career night between the sticks, lots of missed opportunities and a whooooole lot of frustration created. Conte rotated the squad like he said he would. And that squad delivered — to a point.

They created a ton of chances. They didn't play well — or anything close to the way they went into the international break — but the a rather mediocre performance still produced as many chances as anybody else in the opening matchday. The one problem: They didn't take advantage of them whatsoever. Don't believe me, check this out:

Yeah, well what good is that if you can only manage to finish one of them? Exactly.

Random thoughts and random observations

  • When are we going to be worried about Giorgio Chiellini's form? King Kong had another forgettable showing, the second in as many games.

  • Johan Wiland is why Copenhagen came away with a point from this game. Not Juventus' stupid defending on the opening goal. Nope. You're going to need a second hand to count the amount of top-shelf saves Wiland made to keep the score either in favor of Copenhagen or even at 1-1. From one keeper to another, that was a truly unbelievable game. The Man of the Match discussion starts and ends with him.

  • I love Antonio Conte. I really do. But you're trying to tell me that Fernando Llorente, a guy who stands 6-foot-5 and thrives on service in the air, couldn't have helped Juventus try and get a goal. How many crosses did the Juve wingbacks attempt against Copenhagen? Okay, so it was close to 50, but there's no reason to think Llorente couldn't have put at least a couple of those on goal no matter what kind of insane form Copenhagen's goalkeeper was in.

  • If Juventus are drawn against another Danish side in next year's Champions League I will be enraged.

  • It doesn't matter if it's coming off the bench or playing from the start, Fabio Quagliarella scores goals in the Champions League. It's a good thing that the merry-go-round transfer with Genoa and Roma didn't go through. Quagliarella is still a valuable piece to this puzzle. There's no way around it.

  • I had no problems with the squad rotation. Andrea Barzagli and Mirko Vucinic had both been hurting over the last few weeks with their respective injuries and Kwadwo Asamoah had played a ton of minutes before, during, and after the international break. Juventus fielded a squad good enough to beat Copenhagen no matter what the situation was. They just didn't get the job done.

  • I'm not pushing the panic button by any means. Remember how things started last year in the Champions League. But other than starting against Copenhagen at Juventus Stadium, things couldn't have been drawn up any better for Juve. Unfortunately, they're coming back home to Turin with one point, not three. This team just likes to make things hard on themselves in Europe, I guess.

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