Juventus will face Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The two sides last met in the Champions League final 2015 where Juve were beaten 3-1, but despite that, Juve director Pavel Nedved has called on the players to be without fear.
“We’re ready. This tie comes at the right time, the team are growing,”
“The return leg at Camp Nou? No matter where the games are, both will be difficult.
“It’s important to be at peak performance. We respect Barcelona but without letting fear get in the way.
“Revenge for 2015? I don’t know about that. Certainly, this is a fascinating tie against Barcelona
“It’ll be very nice, but we should look at the present, not the past. We’re strong, we can face them openly and after that, may the best team win.
“I agree with what Trapattoni said, that Juve need only look at themselves and be conscious of their own strengths.
“We must respect Barcelona, but not too much so it doesn’t result in fear, and play against them toe-to-toe.
“We should be happy and proud about being the only Italian team still in the Champions League.
“Was it better to play the second leg at home? No because I remember a time when we went through at Camp Nou. I don’t believe where the second leg is played makes a difference.
“Barcelona not as good compared to previous years? The years pass for everyone, they’ve won everything in recent years and it’s understandable that they may dip.
“Still, if we want to progress, we must do something more than what we usually do. We’re ready, but we have to be in top condition.
“If I were Juventus, I wouldn’t be happy with the draw. PSG proved anything could happen in football, and the fact that we’re here proves it.
“One of our objectives was to avoid one of the Spanish teams.”
Former Juve midfielder turned pundit, Alessio Tacchinardi reminisced about the last time Juve beat Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
“2003? It was a fantastic quarter-final, with the goal from Zalayeta,” he told Premium Sport.
“It’s a pity, although we still have to deal with it all. The fact that Barcelona are not in optimal physical condition gives us hope: Barcelona don’t seem to be at full intensity.
“They are two finals. Juventus were unlucky, also in the draw. Playing the second leg at Camp Nou, anything can happen. Barca’s comeback against PSG proves it.”
The full draw is as follows:
Atletico Madrid v Leicester
Borussia Dortmund v AS Monaco
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
Juventus v Barcelona.
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Hm, Bonucci your excitement is reality now. Vengeance is coming.
Indeed. Payback time!
Saw the draw live, oh dear! If we can survive this, we are ready for a CL win..
Excited and scared at the same time personally
same here, dont know whats bigger, if excitement or scare
Barca has been very unstable, showed weaknesses defensively and general seemed less in harmony as a team this season. With that said Barca is still Barca and they have their feared MSN supported by the brilliance of Iniesta and others.
I do however think that we can beat Barca if our defense proves solid and our accuracy is improved. I hope that we can step up internationally as we have done before. We have had the luxury of being able to rely on single players like Pirlo, Vidal, Morata, Tevez etc. to do some magic on the attacking front while Buffon + BBC have keep the defensive tight.
May our new formation prove to bring us international glory.
Good. If we truly want to belong to the best, this is the best opportunity to show the world we’re serious about it. The whole world will watch it!
It’s called champions league, and finally we get to play against champions! (Sorry Dinamo Zagreb, those didn’t count!)
Come ooooooooonnnnnnnn!!!!!! This is the chance of a lifetime i hope to survive the two legs. My heart will be beating like shit. And peaple the final is in England not in Spain what comes before must be fought and won
I saw this the other day, i don´t know how accurate it is but the guy seems knowledgeable. I Knew Brits had a confusing system, I just didn´t know to what extent.
Maybe it will be helpful.
https://twitter.com/galka_max/status/842492169587838977
Simple enough isn’t it? Northern Ireland may not be geographically part of Great Britain, but for example NI athletes would compete in and with the GB team. Ireland is an island land mass, consisting of the nation state of the Republic, and Northern Ireland. But don’t confuse yourself with the nation state. It’s nothing to do with UK or GB. It just gets a bit messy when religion gets involved….
I am proud of all of you guys, that the survey shows 53% people happy with the draw show us Juventinos are winners, that we have winning mentality and are not afraid of anyone.
Mark my words boys, THIS YEAR WE WILL WIN UCL. I am saving already for the shirt, I hope JuveStore gives us a special deal.
So there we are… it is so. No easy way through this time like some wanted. Good. If we can’t beat the best over two legs then we are simply not good enough to win it. It’s hard to blame bad luck over two legs.
I can’t vouch for others, but I would rather we were found out in the last 8 as opposed the final and have yet another loss to add to our record of most losses in final ever, with everyone watching. Nobody remembers a last 8 loser, but all remember the losing finalists.
I think we will beat Barca this time. Not by much, but just edge it.
Oops sorry didnt check that one up.
everybody here:
do you guys think that our fine men at Vinovo take the team into somekind of tv room and they see the final of 2015? Barca didnt change,Juve a lot. I bet dani will explain some tactics.
What do you guys think?
Agreed, Alves can point out some weaknesses they have. The team we have now is different, not sure if overall better. Perhaps more tactically secure. But we have a much better dedicated strike pairing now with Gonzo and PD. Although I liked Tevez and Moratta too.
I really cant wait for this.
Lets hope nobody gets injured.
For me there are no tactics. We should bite them (not like suarez) from start to end. We cannot let them breath. Iniesta and Messi should not be allowed to get the ball. We must play dirty filthy if possible. We should intimidate the officials even by our approach. For they will try to do oh will they try!!!!!!!!..
As I mentioned elsewhere, my eagerness to lift the trophy far outweighs my desire for us to face the best of the best at every stage before the final. Our chances would have been greater had we drawn some of the weaker sides left in the tournament, but nonetheless I am happy to have drawn Barca.
It really sets the stage perfectly for Allegri to pick up where he left off in the final two years back and prove to himself and the world how far he has developed his Juve.
I’m already looking forward to the ties!
I understand your point, but I’d much rather defeat the best on the way of conquest, leaving no room for criticism, than going through the likes of Leicester.
Does anyone wonder how are we going to contain and stop MSN? Both Neymar and Messi are entirely different beasts in their own right, but when it comes to neutralizing Luis Suarez it will be a rather special matchup against Giorgio which we have seen more than once. For instance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYZsJYZVt5g
From this clip now we know who should prevail in the end. Still watch out Giorgio you know perfectly well his preferred attack move, don´t let him bite you.
FinoAllaFine!
lol more like 1 T-Rex(Luis Suarez) 1 Velociraptor(Messi) and 1 Olympic gold Diver(Neymar) Vs a Labarynth (BBC). all in all i think BBC v MSN is a fair fight
i dont think we will see BBC in action
I think Barzagli is too off the pace to be part of a backline trying to contain the best strike trio in the game. Chellini did not play the final of course, but he will be ok with Suarez from his national duty experience!
It is time for Rugani to be blooded in real battle, and from what I read in Gp’s match reports his time has come to step up and be the present in our defense, not the future.
I usually forget to point that fact out, had Giorgio played that final I am sure our defensive performance and therefore scoreline and end result would have been entirely different. We played 3 man defense on that final but not BBC, they have always been two different things.
Comon Guys!!! why so dour? This my depressed brethren finally settles our claims: 1. Juve is better than Farcelona, 2. La liga is dead 3. Real Madrid and Barcelona are living off of past glory.
I have no doubt we will be in the semis along with Bayern, Atletico and Monaco. I would put my house on it that Juve passes. The only cause for worry is that the second leg is in Spain, But still I predict a Win in italy and a draw in Spain. It will be Crucial to keep the score line 0 at home.
We have an only slightly weaker attack than Barcelona, We have a CLEARLY better Defense and Keeper than Barcelona, and we have a better Midfield than Barcelona. Barcelona already fixed one game this season so I doubt they can afford to fix another against us.
Progression is 50 50 we were not outplayed by RM two years ago nor by BM last year. We should think of the game time due over expectancy can work as a disadvantage. There will be no motivator settings this time as playing against the best is the best motivation in itself. But we are no inferior. They have the best player in the world but they are very vulnerable in defence. Hope the officials will be up to it as decisions such as yellow cards will be crucial.
5 games to go
tbh we have been totaly outplayed by bayern at home untill we scored the first goal.
lol
oh man, i still cant get how could morata NOT to score from 6 meters, it would be 0:3 , instead, he sent the ball on mars
I still remember Morata for that miss and those two goals against RM. It was easier lot easier to score. Dear god what soar memories.
When we talk about percentages the two finals against dortmund and milan come to mind. What was the percentage back then 80 20. Still we lost. We have a game against barca that like Allegri said should be normallity for Juventus. You can win you can lose. All Juventini are excited over excited and anxious cause this comes after calcio….
We are back with the best but until this becomes normality it will be more felt than before.