Journalist
January 15 – 10.18am – MILANO
A left-footed shot went wide. Koopmeiners and Yildiz’s evening revolved around an aiming error that could have changed their Atalanta-Juve match and, probably, also the fate of the Bianconeri in the championship. But if the Dutchman’s shot, in the 21st minute, went a few meters behind Carnesecchi, the Turk’s shot, in the 91st minute, grazed the post and left Motta’s team with a lot of regrets. In between, however, there is much more: Koop’s, expected at the turning point, was another marginal race; that of Kenan, however, was a “total” match, which further confirms how Juve’s destiny depends on the growth of its young number 10.
KOOP, FORMER LITTLE REGRET
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Not even his return to the Gewiss pitch, where he had first been a leader and then an outcast (the fans overwhelmed him with boos and reserved two “heavy” banners for him) managed to turn Koopmeiners’ season around. Deployed as a false nine as already at San Siro against Milan a couple of months ago, the Dutchman doesn’t do badly in his work with his back to goal, he fights, tackles and inspires his teammates especially in the first half, but he always seems like a good enough body stranger: he touches few balls (just 39, less than all the Juventus players who started from 1′), and, consequently, makes few positive passes (15, last among the Bianconeri). He wins only 4 duels out of 12 and loses a dozen balls (second, together with Yildiz, only to the worst player on the pitch Cambiaso).
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YILDIZ TOTAL
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The Turk, on the other hand, does everything: he starts on the right in Motta’s attack without references, then moves to the left, sacrifices himself in defense and, apart from Kalulu, is the most dangerous of his team. He shot twice wide and was blocked twice by Atalanta defenders, touched 59 balls with 29 positive passes, won 8 duels out of 13 and finished the match with an 80% percentage of positive dribbles. And, above all, in the end he also shows his face. And he apologizes for not having passed the ball to Mbangula (alone in the center of the area) on the occasion that happened to him in the 91st minute. “I have to apologize to him and the team – admits the Juventus number 10 -. I have to pass this ball to Samuel…”. In short, Kenan, at 19 years old, already demonstrates an uncommon maturity. And which puts him forward as one of the players of the next decade. Qualifying for the Champions League last year allowed, among other things, Juve to invest almost 60 million to bring Koopmeiners to Turin. Fourth place this year will (also) help Yildiz not hear the sirens of Europe’s big names.
