Alessandro Costacurta was in the Sky Sport studio following Juventus’s 5-0 Europa League victory over NEC Nijmegen — and the former Italian international and AC Milan defender used the platform to deliver a pointed and generous assessment of the player he feels is most in danger of being underappreciated in the current commentary climate.
“Alajbegovic Is Becoming Very Good — I Want to Highlight Him Because I Hear Him Being Undervalued, and I Say He Will Have a Great Future”
Costacurta’s intervention was direct and unsolicited — the reaction of a man who has spent his career assessing attacking talent from close range and finds the external narrative around Alajbegovic insufficiently appreciative of what he is watching. “I would like to underline the performances of some players who are becoming important — because the positive matches keep accumulating. It seems to me that Nico González and the return of McKennie are two important resources. But Alajbegovic is becoming very good and I want to highlight that — because I hear this lad being undervalued, and I say he will have a great future.”
The Match Costacurta Was Assessing
The context for Costacurta’s verdict was an evening in which Juventus, recovering from the Sassuolo defeat, delivered everything their manager had demanded: clarity of ideas, goals from new arrivals, and a collective performance that addressed the tactical balance problems that had been so publicly discussed across the week. González opened the scoring before ten minutes. Alajbegovic, Woltemade, and Çelik made it 3-0 before half-time. Kolo Muani and González added further goals in the second half. Grabara — deputising for Vicario — made his debut. And McKennie, returning from muscular fatigue, provided the energy and competitive presence that his absence from the Sassuolo match had so conspicuously cost.
