Atletico Madrid 2-1 Juventus
Atletico Madrid-Juventus was quite the matchup to draw the 2019 International Champions Cup to a close. It pitted the undisputed king of Portuguese football — Juve’s Cristiano Ronaldo — up against the highly rated teenager who’s been dubbed the heir to Ronaldo’s throne — Atleti’s Joao Felix.
And it was the young Portuguese prince who defied the International Champions Cup 2019 odds as he put on a spectacular performance to lead Atletico to the 2-1 win.
The win sees Atletico finish second overall in a memorable ICC campaign which also saw them thrash rivals Real Madrid, 7-3.
Atleti smashed their transfer record to bring in Joao Felix, and he’s quickly proving to be a sound investment who has a chance to live up to the hype of being the “new Ronaldo.”
Highlights of the game
This final match of the International Champions Cup took a while to get going. Cristiano Ronaldo came up with the first notable shot on goal on 17 minutes, but his long-range effort took a deflection and sailed high for a corner. On the ensuing corner, Ronaldo once again tried his luck from distance and again he was way off target.
It was Atleti’s turn to threaten just a few minutes later. After Juve failed to clear their lines near the six-yard box, the ball fell invitingly to Koke, who was denied a goal by a brilliant goal-line clearance from Alex Sandro.
However, the Spaniards wouldn’t be denied shortly thereafter as they opened the scoring thanks to their record signing Joao Felix. After some patient build-up play, fellow newcomer Kieran Tripper delivered an inviting cross to Felix, who struck a sublime volley to beat Juve keeper Wojciech Szczesny.
But upon closer inspection of the replay, Felix’s shot actually took a slight deflection off the leg of team-mate Thomas Lemar. As a result, the Frenchman was credited with the goal despite Felix doing all the hard work to provide one of the top International Champions Cup 2019 highlights.
Felix was once again in the middle of a promising move that could’ve produced a second goal just a couple minutes later. The Portuguese striker led a quick Atletico counter-attack and laid the ball off to Alvaro Morata at the edge of the box. However, the Spaniard’s shot was expertly blocked by Juve captain Giorgio Chiellini.
Juve quickly came right back down the other end of the pitch to fire a shot of their own as Gonzalo Higuain found Ronaldo at the edge of the penalty area. But once again, the Portuguese superstar’s accuracy was way off as he skied another attempt way over the bar.
Luckily, Sami Khedira’s aim was much better as he scored Juve’s equaliser on 29 minutes. The German midfielder snuck his shot through a couple of players, which left Atleti keeper Jan Oblak with no chance to react in time.
But it took just four minutes for Atleti to restore their lead, and this time there was no doubt it was Joao Felix’s goal.
After “stealing” Felix’s first goal, Lemar made up for it with an inch-perfect through ball to his Portuguese team-mate from just past the halfway line. Felix made no mistake with his finish as he slotted past Szczesny with stunning class.
Meanwhile, Juve’s strikers still struggled to hit the target. Much like Ronaldo, Gonzalo Higuain didn’t seem to have his shooting boots on.
Although, Juve almost had a huge slice of luck just a couple of minutes after the break as Douglas Costa’s deflected shot crashed into the post. They were unlucky to hit the post again with Adrien Rabiot’s long-range strike just before the hour mark.
Paulo Dybala, who is still with the team after a deal to Tottenham fell through, had one last chance to come up with an equaliser five minutes from time. But the Argentine couldn’t quite squeeze his shot past the Atletico defence as the Spaniards held on for the win.
Key statistics
This match played out similar to how most Atletico matches against top opposition have gone under Diego Simeone.
Juventus came away with the majority of possession — 60 per cent to 40 — and significantly outshot Atletico, 27-11. But the shots on target was much closer with the Italian champions having six to Atleti’s three, two of which ended up in the back of the net.
The last time these two sides met — in the second leg of last year’s Champions League round of 16 — Juve outshot Atleti, 16 to five. But in that match, Ronaldo supplied a brilliant hat-trick, which accounted for three of their four shots on target.
Ronaldo was nowhere near as sharp this time around, though, as all five of his shots were unable to test Jan Oblak.
What’s next?
Atletico’s pre-season campaign is done and dusted, and they will now begin preparations for their opening La Liga matchup against Getafe next Monday.
As for Juventus, they also have no more pre-season matches left. But they do have an extra week more to prepare for their first match in Serie A, which will be away to Parma on Sunday the 25th.
Head on over to SBOBET for all the odds on the opening weekend matchups in La Liga and Serie A.
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