Juventus Club Focus: Andrea Pirlo Saves the Day… Again

Date: 20th March 2014 at 11:55pm
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Juventus LogoI hate to say I told you so, actually I love saying it: I told you so. Last week, plenty of folks were worrying about Juve, criticizing Antonio Conte, and speaking of a lack of “desire” in the dressing room. Today, they are through to the quarter finals of the Europa League.

From the moment Mario Gomez scored last week, until Andrea Pirlo’s second free kick goal in a few days, it was nothing but non stop speculation, anxiety, and, rumors. Even during the Genoa match, the focus by some commentators and many players was already on the Fiorentina return leg.

I was expecting a blockbuster showdown. While we saw no blockbuster, we had an even game. Fiorentina had a few chances, Juve had a few chances, and the battle was mostly in the midfield. Unfortunately for Fiorentina, Gonzalo Rodriguez, who had been their best player of the match, was sent off after fouling Fernando Llorente just outside of Fiorentina’s 18 yard box.

This of course led to the Pirlo free kick that won the game. It was a cruel irony that Rodriguez was perhaps the best Viola player of the match, but his lone mistake lost the game and the tie for Fiorentina.

That said both teams were pretty even on the night, with Fiorentina putting together a nice team effort. They split open Juve’s defense a number of times, whereas Juventus found themselves struggling to score on the suddenly world class Neto. Juve had a few direct chances for goal, but found themselves relying on that Pirlo free kick again.

With the result secured, Juventus look strong on all fronts. Barring an immense collapse Juventus have won Serie A. The Europa League is of course more up in the air, and the draw for the quarter-final is unseeded so anybody can face anybody. There are some teams that could give Juventus trouble – Benfica, perhaps Lyon – but there are also some pushovers. Then there is Porto, who beat Napoli in both games and managed to score a few at San Paolo.

Porto are perhaps the toughest side left in the Europa League, and drawing them would complicate the short run fixture list, especially as we face Napoli in the league in two weeks.

That Napoli game is, by the way, one of three potentially tricky matches left on their Serie A schedule. Another is versus Parma, who are unbeaten in Serie A since November when Juventus beat them 1-0. It’s likely that we will see a true dogfight, as Juventus probably will have not yet clinched the Scudetto.

Finally we have Roma on the second to last match day of the season. The arithmetic of the table suggests that game will be for bragging rights only. If that ends up being the case it will also serve as a nice appetizer for – presumably – next year’s two top Scudetto contenders.

I know the third consecutive Scudetto is a huge deal for Antonio Conte. With that almost wrapped up, and with the Europa League competition heating up, I think we may see more of an emphasis put on the Europa League. This may not happen immediately, but it’s a certainty if Juventus clinch the Scudetto sooner rather than later.

While the elimination from Champions League was a tough experience for the club and her fans, a double of Serie A and the Europa League could marginally ease that pain, and provide a nice base of success for future European excursions.

 

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