Juve will appreciate reaching the semi finals of the Champions League, but might want to consider changing their approach to reach the final.
Reaching the semi finals for the first time since 2002-03 is an impressive achievement for the Bianconeri and their coach Massimiliano Allegri, who has reached the final four of the Champions League for the first time in his career after failing to do so at AC Milan.
If the latest performance against Monaco is anything to go by though, they might not have enough attacking intent to match the remaining contenders.
Arturo Vidal’s penalty in the first leg was the only goal scored over the two legs and it was enough for Allegri’s team to progress from the quarter finals.
Wednesday night’s 0-0 draw in Monte Carlo was a lacklustre performance.
The Bianconeri were happy to let Monaco attack but the Ligue 1 side lacked the quality to break down Gianluigi Buffon in goal and the Juventus defence.
Leonardo Jardim’s side had most of the possession and were more effective than Juventus in the second leg. Monaco had 56 percent possession to Juventus’ 44 percent, they made 481 passes to Juventus’ 383, their passing efficiency was at 84 percent to the Bianconeri’s 78 percent and they won the shot count 12 to five.
It would be easy to say that Allegri was smart enough to let Jardim’s team do the attacking simply because they needed to score more than the Bianconeri.
Juventus should have tried to score a goal in the first half though, which could have allowed them to assert more control over the game.
Geoffrey Kondogbia and Joao Moutinho starred in Monaco’s midfield but fortunately for Juve, their attacking trident was not up to scratch. Even when veteran striker Dimitar Berbatov came on for the second half, he could not find a way through.
This draw for Juventus looks more uninspiring because of their ineffectiveness in possession.
Andrea Pirlo made some decent passes but Alvaro Morata and Carlos Tevez were isolated in attack for a majority of the game. Vidal and Claudio Marchisio helped out in defence but struggled to link the midfield and the attack together.
Although Juventus were insipid in the offensive part of the game, Monaco were disciplined in defence and the Monegasque club conceded less space than what Borussia Dortmund did in the second round. Jardim’s full-backs drifted-in centrally to help the centre-backs and were thus well equipped to deal with Juventus’ narrow play.
Stereotypically Italian teams are known for their pragmatism and doing enough to obtain results.
This conservative approach worked for Allegri and his Juventus squad against Monaco, but it probably won’t be successful in the semi finals against the superior offensive qualities of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
Real Madrid managed to break down Atletico Madrid’s stubborn defence thanks to a late Javier Hernandez goal in their second leg tie, Bayern Munich crushed Porto 7-4 on aggregate after winning the second leg 6-1 and Barcelona easily disposed of Paris Saint-Germain 5-1 on aggregate.
Those teams showed their quality in the quarter finals, and did so against superior opposition than Juventus. Even if the Binaconeri don’t play champagne football, they will need to find a better balance between defending and attacking in the semi finals.
Juventus can be proud of being the first Italian team to reach the Champions League semi finals in five years of course. Where results are concerned, this is a real confidence boost for Italian football.
If Allegri is just planning to grind out a result come the semi finals however, Juventus’ dreams of reaching this year’s final would be no more than a dream.
Although I’m glad that they are through, I was extremely disappointed & frustrated by Allegri’s approach. Had Juve attacked & scored an early goal, they would have knocked the stuffing out of Monaco, due to the French sides relatively weak attack. Instead Juve lived on the edge for the whole 90 minutes, inviting trouble on themselves. I hate it when sides sit on one goal leads!! A similar approach in the semi’s will not only see the go out, they’ll probably get a hammering too as their next opponent have the quality that Monaco lack in attack.
Juve is the 4th best of the four remaining sides and is likely to stay that way. I don’t see them getting past any of Real, Bayern and definitely not Barca. You can’t just sit back and soak up against those teams. This defensive unit is simply too prone to mistakes for that. There’s just too much quality in the attack. Moreover, Juve is just not clinical enough up front despite strong players like Tevez and Morata.
Where Juve matches any of those sides is in the middle of the field and they will have to use this to their advantage by dominating this part of the field.