Re-Chiellini and his performance last night, it was great last 30 min from him. But let's not re-write the history of last night, he was turned inside out several times, and Spurs were wasteful in front of the goal. On the balance, it was a great performance since Juve progressed, but last ditch tackling and screaming at each other is not a pre-requisite for a great defensive performance.
On his place as one of the great defenders, the likes of Pique, underrated to this day, have won more and defend better than him. Pique is faster than him and simply reads the game better. Also, Godin is everything Chiellini wants to be. He is athletic and committed, but makes far less errors and doesn't have to throw himself around like Chiellini does.
Not sure if Chiellini is in top 5 defenders of his generation. That's underrating a whole lot of defenders that overlapped with him. The likes of Ferdinand and Vidic were on another level, so was John Terry to be fair. The same style, throwing himself on the way etc. Bonucci is a more cultured defender. In Germany, they have had Boateng and Hummels, in Spain, other than Pique and Godin, there were Ramos and Pepe. For whatever reason, the defenders of defensive teams are appreciated more than the defenders of the attacking teams. The other night Ramos didn't concede a single chance to PSG's attack (much better attack than Spurs).
But I loved Chiellini's post match interview. He would probably make my top 10 defenders of his era, but he isn't close to being top 3.