Player ratings: Juventus 2-0 Udinese – David unlucky not to have scored twice

Juventus are through to the Coppa Italia quarter-final after a 2-0 victory at home against Udinese on Tuesday evening, thanks largely to decent performances from the likes of Jonathan David, Weston McKennie, Teun Koopmeiners and Juan Cabal. Check out the player ratings below! 

An own goal from Matteo Palma and a second-half penalty from Manuel Locatelli sent Juventus through to the Coppa Italia quarter-final, but three further goals – from Kingsley Ehizibue, Jonathan David and Lois Openda – were ruled out on the night. 

You can see how the action unfolded on the Football Italia Liveblog.

Juventus: Di Gregorio 6; Kalulu 6, Gatti 6 (Locatelli 6.5), Kelly 6, Cabal 6.5 (Conceicao 6.5); Cambiaso 6, McKennie 6.5, Miretti 6 (J.Mario 6), Koopmeiners 6.5; David 7 (Openda 6.5), Yildiz 6 (Zhegrova n/a). 

Best Juventus player: Jonathan David 7 – It was a statement performance from the Canada international in the first half, chosen to lead the attack alongside Kenan Yildiz following the confirmation that Dusan Vlahovic will be unavailable for several months. He was unfortunate not to have two goals to his name in the first half: He would have scored the Bianconeri opener had Matteo Palma not nicked the ball off his feet, going down as an own goal in the end. He also had the ball in the net shortly after with a really impressive finish from a ridiculous angle, almost on the byline, but had that effort chalked off as he was offside by a fraction in the build-up. Encouraging signs. 

Worst Juventus player: None – It was a fairly routine performance from Juventus, who did not have any particularly poor performers on an individual level on the night. Michele Di Gregorio was the least active of the bunch, given that he did not have to face a shot on target, but that is only a compliment to the rest of the Bianconeri outfielders. 

Coach: Luciano Spalletti 7 – The Juventus head coach had plenty of adaptations to make following the confirmation of the serious injury to Vlahovic. No Rugani or Bremer either, which meant a switch to a back four, and lots of tweaks in midfield and attack as well. Despite resting key players in Locatelli, Thuram and Conceicao, Juventus were a threat from the very start and were well deserving of their opener after 23 minutes. In the end the Old Lady had the ball in the back of the net four times – efforts from David and Openda ruled out – and Spalletti will be pleased with the fact that his team continued to push for a third deep into injury time. 

Udinese: Sava 5; Palma 4 (Gueye 6), Solet 6, Bertola 6, Bertola 6; Ehizibue 6, Lovric 6, Zarraga 5.5 (Miller 6), Atta 6 (Ekkelenkamp 6), Zemura 5; Buksa 5.5 (Bravo 6), Zaniolo 5.

Best Udinese player: Ehizibue 6 – The only Udinese player who managed to show a piece of real quality was Ehizibue, who pulled out a fantastic finish to dink over Di Gregorio half an hour in, only to see that goal chalked off for an offside just before. 

Worst Udinese player: Palma 4 – A night to forget for the 17-year-old Udinese full-back, who still has a bright future ahead of him. An unfortunate own goal: He felt he had to do something as David would have stuck the ball in the back of the net anyway had he not intervened. Then gave away a sloppy penalty in the second half, which practically confirmed Juve’s victory once Locatelli tucked it away. 

Coach: Kosta Runjaic 5 – It was always going to be a difficult ask going away to a Juventus side in decent form, especially given that they lost 3-1 in the same fixture in the league just over a month ago. The fact that this was played midweek probably didn’t help much either. Underdogs or not, it was still not an inspiring Udinese display: They struggled to cope with Juve’s early pressure and failed to mount any real threat at all in the second half. They finished the evening with zero shots on target.