'Very complicated' - Italian media & pundit mixed review of Newcastle United star after Champions League debut

Newcastle United defender Lloyd Kelly has received mixed reviews in the wake of making his Champions League debut for Juventus.

Kelly joined the Serie A giants on loan for the rest of the season earlier this month and that move will become a permanent switch during the summer. However, the Magpies defender was criticised after making a difficult debut as a second-half substitute in Juve’s 2-1 win against a Como side managed by former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas on Friday night. Kelly was handed a first start for his new club when they faced Dutch side PSV Eindhoven in a Champions League play-off round on Tuesday night and was criticised by sections of the Italian media for the role he played in PSV’s equaliser in the early stages of the second-half.

Italian news outlet CalcioMercato handed the Magpies defender a 4/10 rating, the lowest of any Juventus player and added: “Very complicated first half, recovery started with courage until Perisic hits him in fear of making a mistake. Elementary dribbling, unloading on the first post. Him? He stays to watch.”

However, the former Bournemouth defender received the support of two more familiar faces as a pair of former Premier League stars praised Kelly for his performance on Tuesday night. Acting as part of TNT Sports’ punditry team for their coverage of the game, former England international Joleon Lescott stressed the 26-year-old would have been surprised by his move to Serie A but stressed the defender ‘didn’t look out of place’ in a Champions League tie.

The former Man City and Sunderland defender told TNT Sports: “He probably would have been quietly surprised by getting the call from his agent, having not featured for Newcastle. I think that was his second start in roughly three months. To go into this stage of the competition, making his debut in the competition in regards to Champions League football, he didn’t look out of place. That one moment, he will probably look back and think he could do better but overall he was very composed and assured and someone that the fans took to.”

Former Chelsea and England winger Joe Cole also threw his support behind Kelly, despite conceding there would be some regret over the part he played in the goal conceded by Juventus in the opening quarter of an hour of the second-half.

He added: “That’s a lesson for him. He’s stepped up and we wish him all of the very best. He did well, his home debut for Juventus, he’ll be having a fantastic evening with his family. It’s a little reminder when you step into the Champions League, you turn your back on Perisic, you can’t do that, but he’ll adjust, he’ll calm down and he’ll get up to speed at this level. It’s another British-born lad doing it in the Champions League.”

Kelly could make his home league debut when Juventus host title contenders and reigning champions Inter in a clash known as ‘Derby d'Italia’ on Sunday night.

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