Juventus' Defensive Crisis Gives Daniele Rugani Chance To Shine

Tuesday’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Football Italia) spoke of a crisis meeting at Juventus, with Italy’s leading sports newspaper believing that the Bianconeri hierarchy would sit down to discuss the club’s deepening injury crisis.

Before Sunday’s 3-1 capitulation at the hands of Genoa, coach Massimiliano Allegri was already working without Paulo Dybala, Andrea Barzagli and Marko Pjaca, while Claudio Marchisio, Gonzalo Higuain and Giorgio Chiellini were still working their way back to full fitness.

However, the situation would only worsen after that defeat, with Juve’s official website revealing that Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci had joined the list of absentees. According to that statement, the Brazilian had fractured his left fibula, while the central defender had strained his left thigh and would be sidelined for “between 45 and 60 days.”

While the injuries elsewhere are clearly concerning, it is in defence where the Bianconeri now have the biggest issue. Bonucci and Barzagli will be unlikely to return to action until the new year, while both Medhi Benatia and Chiellini continually miss matches due to niggling injuries.

The situation has unsurprisingly led to speculation about new signings, with La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Football Italia) listing Victor Lindelof of Benfica and Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic as potential targets.

Yet before the transfer window opens, Juventus have a tough run of league and cup matches to end 2016. Next they host high-flying Atalanta, followed by Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League, a derby clash with cross-town rivals Torino, a visit from AS Roma and the Supercoppa Italiana against AC Milan in Doha, Qatar.

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That would be a tough fixture list even at full strength, but Allegri must plot a way through it using the players he still has at his disposal. Managed carefully, Benatia and Chiellini can most likely alternate in one spot, but the current injury problems have undoubtedly forced Daniele Rugani firmly into the spotlight.

The development of the 22-year-old has been an interesting topic for followers of Italian football ever since he returned to Juve in the summer of 2015. Since then he has made just 26 appearances for the club, with eight of that tally coming as a substitute as the sheer quality of players ahead of him pushed him down the pecking order.

He could certainly have played more often, with Allegri opting to use Martin Caceres, Patrice Evra and Stephan Lichtsteiner ahead of him, but Rugani has also featured in some important matches along the way.

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The young defender did not get his first start until the win over Sampdoria in early January, with an injury to Chiellini then allowing him to play out the season as a regular in the starting XI, including all 120-plus minutes of the Coppa Italia final win over Milan.

It continued into the new campaign, so much so that before September’s meeting with Cagliari, Allegri was forced to discuss the prospects of the former Empoli man seeing some action at his pre-match press conference:

"

Daniele Rugani will start and we’ll be assessing the condition of Medhi Benatia in the coming days. Daniele has improved a lot since arriving here even if his playing time was relatively low last term.

He has trained very well over the summer and, as I’ve said before, will be an important Juventus player for years to come. Given the number of matches we’ll be playing, you can expect to see lots of Rugani this campaign.

"

True to his word, the defender lined up on the right of a three-man defence and netted his maiden Juventus goal, smashing home a simple rebound after Marco Storari had done well to deny a volley from Gonzalo Higuain.

“I’m delighted for my first goal, the win and many other reasons,” he told JTV (h/t Football Italia) shortly after the final whistle, and he certainly had many reasons for feeling positive about his first game of the season.

He turned in a sound defensive display as Juve ran out 4-0 winners, proving that he can play with the required intensity and concentration demanded by Allegri, as the FourFourTwo Stats Zone graphic in the tweet below highlights.

Rugani registered one tackle, two interceptions, two clearances and won two aerial duels while also completing 45 of his 50 pass attempts, but he would then suffer his own injury problems.

That meant he made it to November with more appearances (two) for the Italian national team than he had at club level (one). However, he was soon thrust back into the starting XI against Pescara and Sevilla, then coming off the bench after Bonucci was taken off in the aforementioned loss to Genoa.

The injury problems have seen Juve robbed of their usual cohesion at the back, making errors and conceding goals at a far higher rate than normal. Constantly forced to change his starting lineup, Allegri has seen the previously stout back line become alarmingly porous, and he now needs Rugani to provide that stability.

Having watched former Italy under-21 team-mate Alessio Romagnoli do the same at Milan, Rugani will now be the one anchoring a makeshift defence, and it could well be the making of the Juve man.

The circumstances are far from ideal, but these are the chances that great players must seize. Claudio Marchisio was given his back in 2006 when the Bianconeri had fitness problems in midfield, while Gigi Buffon never looked back after Parma lost two goalkeepers to injury before a 1995 game at San Siro.

Rugani, thanks to his two-year loan stint with former club Empoli, has far more experience than both his current team-mates did when their big opportunity arrived. A start against Atalanta on Saturday would mark the 108th first-team appearance of his career, and the Lucca native must ignore the external pressure and deliver his very best.

No, he hasn’t played particularly well this term, and yes, he probably should have featured more over the past 18 months, but none of that matters when he next takes to the field at Juventus Stadium.

“As we know, the expectations on us are huge this year,” he told Sky Italia (h/t Football Italia) in a recent interview. “I’m growing as a player and as a man, all thanks to the greater responsibility and the environment. I’ve made progress, but I still have a lot to learn to become an important part of this team in the future.”

Rugani was absolutely correct in that assessment, but there is now no time to wait. He is not going to be allowed to continue working in the background; the team needs him, and he must stand up and perform immediately.

Part of a squad that contains Barzagli, Bonucci and Chiellini, he was expected to eventually be the heir to that great defence. But the “BBC” is off-air for the foreseeable future, meaning Rugani is now the only show in town.