De Ligt's replacement, out for the whole season

The game couldn't have started better for Merih Demiral. He managed to earn a place in the starting line-up and then opened the score in the 3rd minute.  

The central defender took advantage of Smalling's lack of forcefulness in the clearance and sent the ball into the back of the net to make it 0-1.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the second but, from then on, things began to go wrong. In the third minute of play, medical attention had to be called up for Demiral. 

The Turk put his hands on his knee and his teammates came to calm him down. The club's medical staff came in and he finally had to leave the pitch on a stretcher.

Through an official statement, the 'Vecchia Signora' confirmed the worst predictions: he suffers an "injury of the anterior cruciate ligament associated with an injury in the meniscus", meaning he will be out for the rest of the season.

Demiral was starting to become a regular at Juventus and had even taken the place of Matthijs de Ligt, which means Maurizio Sarri will be dealing with a difficult situation. 

January 13, 2020