Juan Cuadrado made just 13 Premier League appearances for Chelsea before he was sent back to Serie A with Juventus.
It was a mixed night for former Chelsea players in the Champions League.
While Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois toiled during Real Madrid’s 3-0 thumping by a razor-sharp PSG team thriving in the absence of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani, Juan Cuadrado was enjoying a far more successful night in the Spanish capital.
Making his first start of the Maurizio Sarri era at Juventus, a man who flopped spectacularly at Stamford Bridge seized his chance to prove that he can still be a key player for the Serie A champions.
Early in the second half away to Atletico Madrid, Cuadrado cut inside from the wing and curled a glorious left-footed shot into the top corner of Jan Oblak’s net. Even the world’s best goalkeeper couldn’t do anything about the Colombian’s laser-guided finish – struck as sweetly as you like with the foot he usually uses for leaning on. And who provided the assist? Gonzalo Higuain of course.
Cuadrado made a mere 15 appearances for Chelsea we has farmed back out to Italy in an £18 million deal in 2017, as reported by the BBC. And, like Kevin de Bruyne, Mo Salah, Romelu Lukaku and co, the experienced winger has enjoyed the best spell of his career away from Stamford Bridge.
And the best goal of the first Champions League match-day hasn’t gone unnoticed by a Chelsea fan base who still that toothless defeat to Valencia playing on their minds.
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