Juventus may continue the curse of the top 16, the new Ibrahimovic has 1 goal in 4 games, and Dybala is absent again

Vlahovic will make his Champions League debut in the first leg of Juventus’ quarter-final against Villarreal. After failing to score in 3 consecutive games, Vlahovic has felt the huge pressure from the 80 million euro transfer fee.

Top 16 Spells, Dybala Spells

In the previous two seasons, Juventus had reached the last 16 of the Champions League. In the 2019-20 season, Juventus was eliminated by Lyon due to the disadvantage of away goals; in the 2020-21 season, Juventus was eliminated by Porto again due to the disadvantage of away goals.

However, Villarreal is also facing the curse of the Champions League. In the previous two Champions League knockout rounds, the Yellow Submarines were eliminated by Arsenal in the quarter-finals twice. At the same time, Emery has never led his team to the last 16 of the Champions League. In the Champions League quarter-finals, Emery has only won one game.

To make matters worse for Juventus, Dybala will miss the away game against the Yellow Submarines due to injury.

However, Dybala’s performance in the Champions League is not as good as in Serie A. In the seven seasons he played for Juventus, Dybala made 52 appearances in the Champions League, scoring only 18 goals and providing 3 assists.

More importantly, at crucial moments, Dybala either performed poorly or was absent due to injury.

In the 2015-16 season, Dybala scored a decisive goal in the first round of the round of 16 against Bayern, helping Juventus to a 2-2 draw. However, he missed the second round due to injury, and Juventus were eliminated after extra time.

In the 2017-18 season, Dybala left the field in the first round of the quarter-finals against Real Madrid and missed the second round, only to witness Real Madrid lore Juventus at the Bernabeu. A year later, the injury-affected Dybala played just 60 minutes in two legs against Ajax.

During Sarri’s 2019-20 season, Dybala played just 13 minutes in two legs against Lyon. In the round of 16 last season, Dybala served as a substitute in the first round and was absent due to injury in the second round.

Vlahovic is not a savior?

In the Villarreal battle, Dybala and Chiesa were both absent, leaving Vlahovic to take on the task of scoring. However, this campaign was only his first appearance in the Champions League. After scoring on Juventus’ debut, Vlahovic suddenly fell into a ball drought and never scored in the next three games.

Juventus threw 80 million euros in the winter window, the purpose is to hope that Vlahovic can accept the problem of scoring difficult. In Serie A this season, Juventus has only scored 38 goals, significantly lower than Milan (52 goals), Inter Milan (55 goals), Napoli (46 goals) and Atalanta (46 goals). It’s an ideal solution considering Vlahovic has scored 17 goals in Serie A this season while playing for Fiorentina.

However, Vlahovic seems to have encountered unprecedented difficulties and pressures. In the three games against Sassuolo, Atalanta and Turin, Vlahovic scored 13 shots without breaking the goal, and even only had one shot against Turin.

Before the Villarreal game, Allegri said of Vlahovic, “We can’t put him on all the pressure. He has to be supported and I have to always protect him because I always protect those experiences. Not-so-rich players.”

“It’s not just a technical problem, it’s a psychological one. It’s the first time he sees a scene where the front page of the media is all about him, asking why he didn’t score, which has never happened before. “

Like Uncle Jon, Bonucci is also decompressing Vlahovic. “When Ronaldo played for us, we started almost every game with a score of 1-0. He injected ability and mentality into the team. “(He and Cristiano Ronaldo) are nothing compared, Vlahovic is still young and he deserves time to make mistakes and grow.”

The actions of Allegri and Bonucci are reasonable. However, for Vlahovic, who is nicknamed “New Ibrahimovic”, only by constantly scoring goals and proving himself in the Champions League can he be able to compete with Mbappe , Harland competes for the position of the first striker in the future, and can only be worthy of his own worth of 80 million.