Juventus 1-0 AS Monaco
Scorers: Vidal pen 57 (J)
Champions League – Quarter Finals [Tuesday, 14th April – 19:45 GMT] – Juventus Stadium
For a long time it looked like either side could win this match. Juventus, for the entirety of the match, was more frequently in possession. However, Monaco were regularly threatening with their counter-attacks, and in the first half they nearly scored on Juventus on a few occasions. Juventus failed to capitalize on their chances for the first half, but eventually Arturo Vidal’s penalty kick saw them score.
In fact, Juventus first poked Monaco’s goal in the 5th minute. Andrea Pirlo found Alvaro Morata with a through ball, and Morata broke Monaco’s offside trap. A minute later, and Carlos Tevez forced a saved with an effort from some range.
Two minutes later, and Monaco fullback Layvin Kurzawa tried his own long range effort, though this sailed over Juve’s crossbar. Shortly after, Monaco’s biggest scoring chance came. Anthony Martial sped past Leonardo Bonucci and Stephan Lichtsteiner as he ran through Juve’s half, and when he reached the right side of Juve’s 18 yard box he found Yannick Carrasco at the center of the box unmarked. Carrasco got the ball and took a shot on goal, but Gianluigi Buffon saved the point blank effort. It was to be the first of several amazing saves Buffon would make today.
Monaco were able to stay dangerous on the counter with only three men pushing forward because these three men were rather quick – Carrasco and Martial were faster than Juve’s defenders, but then Juve’s defenders were disciplined enough to not get caught out before any counter attacks started, so usually the defense was able to buy some time before to help stave off the pressure from the counter attacks.
Juve did create chances in the first half semi-regularly, but they were not finishing them. Carlos Tevez had a very close far range volley in the 26th minute, but he didn’t hit it strongly enough, so his effort was easily saved. In the last play of the half, Arturo Vidal skied an effort right in front of goal, after Tevez found him open with a beautifully played long ball.
Right after that miss, the first half ended. Juventus came out even stronger in the second half, though, while Monaco lost a step in their counter attacks. The result was a half that saw Juve in control, with Monaco only occasionally causing issues.
Vidal again tried to score shortly into the second half, taking a shot from long range, but like all the efforts in the first half it wasn’t for a goal. Another exchange of pay found Morata possibly as the last man, but he was dispossessed by the last defender. This led to a corner kick, which led to a long spell of pressure on Monaco in their own half from Juventus.
Finally, Pirlo sent another long ball to Morata in the box, similar to the one at the start of the match. Morata again broke the offside trap, only this time Ricardo Carvalho fouled him, and Juve were awarded a penalty kick. Vidal took the kick, and he sent the ball into the top left corner of the net, perfectly hitting it and scoring Juve’s only goal of the match.
Juve settled for a 1-0 win after Vidal’s goal. They played carefully, making sure to nullify Monaco’s counter-attack threats. A Dimitar Berbatov header from a set-piece was the only chance that this plan would have failed, but the header went out for a goal kick.
Juve are in a nice position for the second leg, as they did not give up an away goal. We will see what Monaco will try, as the impetus is on them to score. However, they will also have to be careful not to give up an away goal to Juventus. Either way, we are in for another tight match.
Statistics:
Man of the Match: Vote below…
Flop of the Match: N/A
Fouls: 7
Corners: 6
Pass Accuracy: 86%
Shots on Target: 5
Total Shots: 13
Ball Possession: 64%
Formation: 4-3-1-2
Formation:
Lineups:
Juventus: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Chiellini, Evra; Vidal, Pirlo (Barzagli 74), Marchisio; Pereyra (Sturaro 87); Tevez, Morata (Matri 83)
Monaco: Subasic; Raggi (Berbatov 71), Ricardo Carvalho, Abdennour, Kurzawa; Fabinho, Kondogbia, Moutinho; Ferreira-Carrasco, Martial (Matheus 87), Dirar (Bernardo Silva 51)
Ref: Kralovec (CZE)
Poll:
[socialpoll id=”2265064″]
unpopular opinion: I thought Subasic was superb.
and also, thank god we won
I agree bud – he had a great night, made some great saves…i think gigi was the better of the two keepers though – surprisingly, he had more to do
The first big chance Monaco had, Caresca or something was one on one with Buffon and Buffon pulls a one handed (one armed actually) save. He still does amazing things even at this age.
Buffon edges it for me. Damn Legend, but Vidal not far behind at all and Marchisio third. Also Patrice Evra had a superb match. Our Fb of the season today he showed why. Didnt think he was able to learn how to defend, but he did and still puts in a great attacking display. Marotta has once again made me his b*tch
I liked Evra too yesterday. Can’t say Vidal would be 2nd for me, but he scored the winning goal, so whatever.
Maybe it’s the euphoria of Vidal scoring the winning goal, but I thought he did great. Ran the most, won tackles and shadow a bunch of great link up plays
7 tackles 3 interceptions and a beautiful penalty. Deserves the praise but no excuse for that missed opportunity earlier in the game
Hm maybe i missed the interceptions then.
Meh ive never been one to think much of stats.
Had a bunch of link up plays, not shadow.. autocorrect is annoying
I always liked the Evra pick up … The guy has tons of experience playing at very high levels. He was also the captain of France for a while so he clearly has leadership and/or calming abilities that can only be good for this team .. I’m sure he fits in well and is respected by his teammates.
Oh and again, Monaco impressed me. Didnt thonk thwy were that good, but i was wrong. World class defending and some very talented players. Werent we close to Kongdobia? Excellent player
Yeah we were, last season I believe. Guess Monaco was more serious or they just bid Sevilla more money
Man, Allegri made a very bold gamble starting Pirlo without any game time in seven weeks! Pirlo gave away the ball in dangerous positions and looked slower than usual in defense, but repaid Allegri’s faith with the penalty-winning pass to Morata. What do you guys think of Pirlo’s performance? Would you start him again in the second leg?
he shouldnt play in any more cl games. Period. Its not just this game but hes caused trouble defensively for us. There was a time today that Pereyra had to mark 2 guys because pirlo was too slow and led to a shot. Its stuff like that where Pirlo can cause us a game. Dont get me wrong Pirlo is my favourite player behind Alex the great but we cant rely on his set pieces or passes that come once in a while
I agree with you. It’s so hard to be critical of a fantastic player like Pirlo, but he’s a massive defensive liability. Does Allegri have the balls to keep a healthy Pirlo on the bench for the 2nd leg? I hope so. He might opt to start him just to avoid any controversy.
“Pirlo is my favourite player behind Alex the great”
How did that happen?
And start with Sturaro in the midfield? I don’t see Allegri doing that. If only we had Pogba then we would be able to hit the holes in Monaco’s defense so much quicker. Once Pirlo was subbed out and Marchisio moved to the regista role his game improved as well
He may choose to switch to a 3-5-2 with Vidal, Marchisio, and Pereyra in midfield with Lich+Evra as wingbacks.
Oh true wouldn’t mind that honestly. It will be curious to see how allegri sets up the squad next game. Will it be us who sit deep and invite them to attack while trying to hit them on the counter? Or will we try to control the tempo/possession like today
Doing that against those Monaco wingers would have been suicidal, I believe Allegri saw there was no reliable other option than starting Pirlo with a 4 man backline.
It’s still Pirlo, sure he’s been out long, but those weaknesses have always been there. You just have to build around it.
So yeah I think Pirlo wasn’t in his best form but he pulled it off again anyway. Starting him again, depends on Pogba, will he be available? I’d start Marchisio as regista in this case, Monaco has no other option than to attack. Thus defensively, we’ll have to be top notch
Not to jump ahead and hypothetically speaking, would Pogba be back for the semi’s if we were to go through?
They said 50 days on March 19th so I think the hope is that he is back unless new information comes out that he is not doing as well as they first thought
First leg is May 5 which would be 47 days so it will be cutting it close
They ruled him out for next week but he should return for 1st/2nd week of May – Possible that he could make the final at least
Lol Bayern. Alonso mistake, i’m liking this.
Maybe we can sell Ogbonna to PSG for 50m!
Seriously did not expect a 3-1 defeat for Bayern, wow xD The way things stand right now, it’s a very exciting and refreshing semifinals coming up! Barcelona is’nt a surprise, but the rest kind of is. Juve up there along with Porto and then either one of the Madrid teams. I have no idea which one will go through.
I think it would be best if we draw either one of the Spanish teams, Porto clearly isn’t easy either, but I’d prefer a Barcelona or Madrid game then. Far more entertaining and I honestly don’t believe there is so much difference anymore between the remaining teams. Individually Porto might be the easiest opponent, but boy they make up for it
I hate to say it, but i think Barcelona are the tournament winners this year.
If we can beat Monaco and draw Porto/Atleti or even Real, i think we’ve got a good chance of progressing to the final.
Just to be at this stage is something, considering all the disappointment of the last few years.
I’m hoping Porto play a great defensive game next week and keep their lead intact because Bayern would be a tough team to face.
Possibly, their defense is a liability though. We stand a good chance against them, we have a more than solid defensive unit to nullify their attack. I’m happy we beat Dortmund, all the rest is a bonus for me, so beating Monaco already is a great achievement in my eyes.
I think we can have anyone now, in a semi-final, there are no easy teams left. It will be up to luck and the team’s shape on match days.
I also hope Porto manage to hold that lead, I’d prefer PSG to win too but I doubt it will happen. I’d also prefer Real over Atletico, just for avoiding Atletico, we’ve seen those games already.
Edit: I’ve got a lot of Real fans among my friends, would be kind of exciting if our teams would face off 😛 On the other hand, if we lose that I’ll never get to hear the end of it xD
I think i’d prefer Atleti in some ways because we know what to expect and we can prepare for it – We’ve changed since we played them so they might not know as well as they think.
PSG, without Ibra, look so stale and lifeless, so it might be a push to expect them to do anything in Barcelona….but you never know
Ideal path for me would be
beat Monaco in France by a healthy margin (2-0)
Face Atleti or Porto in the SF’s
Play Barcelona in the Final
It’s an advantage and a disadvantage, as Atletico has this too so yeah. I do think we’ve grown more than they did and both games were really close ones.
I didn’t expect PSG to beat Chelsea either but who knows, anything can happen.
Playing a CL semifinal would be so great.. I see why people would prefer Atleti or Porto, but I don’t see them as easy teams at all. I think Real is in arguably worse shape than those two, not to mention they are still in full race for the Liga title.
Getting Porto and beating them would be on paper the easiest way yeah. Which leaves Barcelona up against one of the Madrid teams, a Clasico would be quite something xD
I don’t want the sheiks to win, so Barca for me in that match. I also like to see Suarez play, so he can go as far as he wants, unless it’s against us.
What you want Qatar Airways to win from the other sheik? :p
You’ve got a point. But atleast Barca weren’t bought by a sheik.
Yeah I know what you mean though, I would only want PSG to advance in the hope we would draw them, rather PSG than Barca, a Madrid team or Porto
Idk. We have already come very far and if you wanna win it, you’ve gotta be able to beat anyone. A place in the final would be awesome, but with only having played ”weak” opponents, we’ll get crushed there.
Dortmund wasn’t an easy team, whatever their form in the Bundesliga was. They scored 18/18 in groups. Monaco isn’t exactly a top team yeah, but I really think beating Dortmund was our top achievement so far this season
Definitely Dortmund. Like you say, they had 18/18 in the group, while it wasn’t a very easy group.
Exactly, I see people thinking it wasn’t that big of a deal, beating a team that was hovering in the relegation zone, but they forget that Dortmund played the CL final recently. Not to forget this season in CL they were very much the same Dortmund that got to the final, barring a few transfers of course
Some crazy talk in CdS Today that Tevez will be allowed to leave Juventus at the end of the season, rather than play out his final year
Sounds like Juve already know what is happening.
Tevez gave a rather open interview the other day but at the end of it, he talked really passionately about Argentina being his home and how much his heart is there with his family and loved ones. It sounds like he already knows.
If he leaves, i doubt we’ll have anyone close to replacing him any time soon. Dybala was linked with Juve again today but….he’s 21 and has one good season at Palermo under his belt. He’s also petulant and can go missing in games – not the kind of player you want to pin your hopes on.
Cavani would be my choice – knows the league, works hard all match and can finish – I think his time at PSG has been hampered by having Ibra run the show. He said as much the other day.
Overall, i just hope we get another season out of carlitos
Yeah read it too. Would suck if he left so soon already, but there is not much to do about it. Juve could hold him to his contract, but what good is it to force someone to stay? Tevez himself has to want it.
I also doubt we’ll have anyone of similar level to replace him. Zaza isn’t the same level at all (yet?) and neither is Dybala. Cavani isn’t coming to Juve, he said it himself (that he isn’t leaving PSG)
We should try to get maybe Jackson Martinez or Falcao if we need a short term replacement imo. Cavani would be nice but it isn’t likely.
One more year of Tevez would be the best solution though :p
is there not a transfer fee? Since when can a player just walk away like that?
In theory there is one yeah, but if both parties (Juve and Tevez) agree to rescind the contract, there is no legal issue left.
I’d ask for the transfer money we paid for him back if they want him a year sooner, but I doubt there will be anything
Cavani would be my dream. I’m very positive Juve can make him get his form back. He’s not even playing his prefered position at PSG.
If he does leave a year early, doesn’t Boca have to pay a transfer fee for him?
Reading Axel Witsel to Juve is “as good as done” and now seeing reports linking Kevin De Bruyne to us. I’m not that excited by Witsel, but De Bruyne would be nice to have at Juve. Witsel would be something around 18 mill reportedly. De Bruyne no figures mentioned, his agent says he’s worth 30mill.
Witsel will be a great addition. But i dont see the point of getting him if we dont sell pogba
I still have problems rating Belgian players, so used to very mediocre players but this generation stands out so much. Witsel is good, don’t get me wrong on that. He’s like Vidal, a tireless workhorse who tries to get the ball anywhere on the field, but less skilled than Vidal.
There is indeed no point if Pogba stays. Or Pirlo doesn’t retire
If everything goes well, we’ll have 3 Italian teams with the remaining 8 teams in europe. CL and EL combined. Napoli trashed Wolfsburg, amazingly done. Fiorentina got a good result in Kiev and should finish it at home.
For the statistics it would look like this:
Spain – CL: 2 EL: 1 Total: 3
Italy – CL: 1 EL: 2 Total: 3
Portugal – CL: 1 EL: 0 Total: 1
And either Ukraine or Belgium will have one in the EL semis. No Germany if Porto can hold on, no England. Just behind Spain, Serie A is doing great.