Juventus will face Monaco in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
The Bianconeri have been drawn against the same side they played against en route to the 2015 final, albeit in the semi-finals this time round.
The first-leg will be played on May 3rd in Monaco with Juve facing Atalanta the weekend before, while the second-leg is in Turin on May 9th with a Derby against Torino sandwiched inbetween.
Speaking after the draw, Juventus director Pavel Nedved gave his thoughts on Juve’s opponents:
“It’s hard to say which was the best team to face meet because this competition has shown that you can never make a mistake.
“I hope and believe we will be ready to meet this challenge with the maximum of our potential.
“We are expecting a very young team that runs a lot and that’s always a complicated thing.”
Ex-Juve midfielder Alessio Tacchinardi believes it’s the best possible draw for the Bianconeri:
“It’s super draw, they are the weakest team of three possible.
“Of course Monaco deserve the utmost respect.
“The away match in Monte Carlo will be important, because the principality team does not have much experience and the stadium factor can be decisive.”
Speaking to BeIn Sports, Monaco chairman Vadim Vasilyev emphasised the changes Monaco have undergone since the last time the two teams met:
“They’re a tough opponent, with a different style of play to ours.
“It will be a rematch, two years ago Juventus eliminated us in the quarter-finals. They’re stronger than two years ago, but we’re stronger too.
“It will be a nice match.
“Every opponent is difficult to face at this stage of the competition, the atmosphere at Stade Louis II was incredible in the last game, I call on all supporters to be there like in the return.”
“We’ll try to recover well and be attentive.
“Tactically the Italians are very strong, with great players. We’re content, we’ll need to be forceful and give everything.
“We’re two matches away from a final which would be historic for this club, we need to maintain the care-free attitude which is the hallmark of this team.
“There’s talent, but also this care-free approach which allows us to transcend ourselves. Jardim definitely has a big tactical job on his hands, but I was persuaded beforehand that it’s a good draw for ASM.”
Total superstition here, but we have the best home record. If/when we proceed from the semi’s we will be considered the home team in the final, may that bring us luck.
Let us ceremoniously burn effigies next! 😛
You’re in the right place for superstition. I remember the black pants scare on this site. 😉
At this point of the comp, no draw is an easy draw, but if any team i timidated me it would be athletico
Yeah I also rather avoided Atletico. Monaco it is eh
I’d rather have Atletico or Real to be honest. At least with them, I would know exactly what to expect. Monaco could still be tricky. As John said, no easy draws anymore.
Monaco just seems like they can completely surprise us or be outplayed with our strategy. As we say here, it is neither a boy or a girl 🙂 but I hope that we are not in for surprises
Really? Atletico is nothing but Defence + Counnter attacks, I think we have proved to have the best defence, and as long as we keep Griezman isolated. Atletico Madrid is actually the easiest team we could have faced, and would have been our best draw.
Real Madrid has become our little bitch in recent years, we would have made quick work of them as well
Monaco in my opinion our worst possible draw because they are very tricky, and play very gung ho, our defence needs to be just as tough as VS the MSN to make it through. however we can find solice in a weak back line and inexperiance.
Exciting game! Monaco is doing great so far, they have a quality attack and they were already tough to beat last time we met. Will be even tougher now, but Juve can have it. Onwards!
First the away game, then the return at the Juventus Arena. Good or bad for us?
I always consider it better to play at home first. This way away goals could play a huge part if we end up in extra time.
On the other hand, if we can surprise them away with a few goals and not conceding, we’re all set for the home game.
Totally agree with you Peter
I think is irrelevant! As much as I like they way they play,they are a “score 3 because you will concede at least 2” kind of team in Europe. So if we manage to keep a clean sheet (which should not be a problem if we play the way we did in Camp Nou) and given the quality of our front men , we have a good chance to get a pretty 0-2 “progress from the first match” score.
Good. Hold them to low scoring match at their place, and we should be fine.
To be honest, I didn’t watch their games, so you can’t expect groundbreaking information from me. All I’ve read about them, is they let their opposition control the ball and operate from counters, which would have made me concerned a couple of years ago, but if they really wish to let Pjanic, Dybala, Higuain, Cuadrado and Mandzukic do as they please, then by all means, be my guests.
I was just going to ask what you did without asking the question, but does anyone here know enough about Monaco to enlighten us? I mean besides what can be read online
i saw when they played Man city and it didnt look like they play on counters, bernardo silva remind me messi, real magician with ball on his feet, play 442, bakayoko is beast, so is lemar and mendy.they play really nice and attacking kind of football, anyway if you remember kamil glik from our city neighbours FCT, so he will try to stop us again. Subasic(gk) is nowhere near buffon, conceded some cheap goals against city.Bernardo silva is main creator but lemar is more direct what i saw and with mendy behind him they are realy dangerous on the left so alves/lichsteiner & cuadrado will have to work pretty hard.on the other side i think alex sandro, in this form, can handle silva easy pizzy.im not sure but fabinho should be suspended for next match, he is such skinny guy that it looks sick.lol.but this guy is pretty gooood.their football remind me total football ajax played years years ago.when they attack they attack in numbers , same goes for defence.so this is it.but , i only saw 2 games against city lol so they can do some tactical changes against us.
They do not play counter attacking football that is Atletico MAdrid you are thinking off. Honestly this is the worst draw in my opinion, Everyone underestimates Monaco because they don’t have big names, however what most people don’t realize is that the team is very young and everyone there SHOULD be a big name, they all have amazing potential and skill.
Monaco play a very High Press Gung Ho style of football, very entertaining and fun to watch, kinda like Liverpool and BVB.Honestly if we are to make it to the final then our defence better be on point like Vs Barcelona.
THE BIG Diffrence between Monaco and Barcelona though (And this could see Mbappe and Co. doing what the MSN failed to do: Scoring) Is that Barcelona have a horror midfield with no creativity, Monaco on the other hand have an amazing midfield! they have Bakayoko who in my opinion is way better than Kiesse from Atlanta, They have Lemar who is a corner specialist, quick and good from distance, they have Fabinho who is another great CM with Pace, Dribbling and creativity.Point is what Barcelona lack in midfield Monaco have in Spades.
Only things we can take to our advantage is that their defense is very bad and they are very young and inexperienced witch could result in desperation (witch is good and bad; Good because they can get reds but bad because they can injure our players
Thanks for your summary! I didn’t mean to disrespect them or to underestimate them. I simply have more confidence in our attack force now than we had a couple of years ago. It’s going to be exiting, I’m sure.
A difficult draw for Juve. The resiliency of an underdog team like Monaco have historically surprise teams that become to complacent. Juventus should treat them as another Barcelona in order to avoid surprises.
Juventus have a real chance of winning the Champions League this season thanks to the hard work ethic of our players.
But please this time shot some away goals. Juve really should shoot at least 2 in Barca. 100% chances.
If we can stop msn so we can stop F and M.
Lets fuck them. 1:3 for us. In Monaco.
3:1 in Torino.
And Higuain really has to show his moneycosts. Its time 4u!
Yes, Wales 😉
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THis is the worst Possible DRAW!!!!!!
We just escaped the Wrath of the MSN! and now we are thrown into the wrath of Mbappe and CO!
I much have rather we Faced RealMadrid or Atletico Madrid!!!! both would have been easier games :/ … well at least we play the return leg in italy so that is good news
A lot of people say “Well we kept out the MSN, how much hard can Mbappe and a coupple of teenagers be?”
And my answer to you is: THE BIG Diffrence between Monaco and Barcelona (And this could
see Mbappe and Co. doing what the MSN failed to do: SCORING) Is that
Barcelona have a horror midfield with no creativity, Monaco on the other
hand have an amazing midfield with enough vreativity to share!
Then there is Mendy who might as well be Alex Sandro’s double!
This should be a pass for us, but if we get overconfident we can just as easily get knocked out by Monaco! THEY ARE NO JOKE!!! they bitch slapped Manchester City and beat BvB AT THERE OWN GAME!!! it means Mbappe and Co is > than (Reus& Aubameyang and Co.) and better than (Aguero & De Bruyne and Co.) I say “>” meaning “better than” because what all 3 teams have in common is that they all have a horrible back line, and sub par keepers; However Monaco has PROVED TO BE ALPHA when it comes to Biting(scoring goals)
Let me tell you my opinion Mr Quinn. When we reached the final two years ago we had Bor Dort as well. I dont remember excatly how that went. With shit teams in the Bundesliga they are currently in what position and how many pionts behind. We are currently in the top two of world football. They will face if fit a team of 11 world class players. Respect but if we fail its completly our fault to go to Cardiff that is.
Correct, Man City’s defence is truly awful. Dortmund were shell shocked (Bomb-shocked?) – the match should NEVER have been played the next day. Yet still the soft belly of Monaco conceeded two goals. Yes they scored three. But they were not playing the best defence in European football. They squeezed past a not very euro-savvy or confident Spurs side in the group stages. I don’t see the examples being given of Monaco’s threat as particularly convincing. They conceeded a lot of goals along the way. So sorry Gerald, but I say again your fear of Monaco is greater than the actual threat they pose.
Of course we should be wary, prepared and respect them and their ability to score. Did we do anything less for the best strike trio in the world MSN? I strike force far more deadly than Monaco’s young whippers… No. We did not. And we will not be any different I suspect against Monaco.
We will be Juve, and all that that entails. They have far more to fear than we do.
I guess what scares me the most and what gives me nightmares every night is that our defenders get complicit and full of themselves after having kept out the MSN for 180min :
It’s as good as a foreign language to us english… but we let them talk it amongst themselves just to keep them happy 😉
lol
So this is the best draw possible.
We seem to have Monaco’s number in the past, and I expect us to again.
We don’t seem to have Atletico’s number, and there miserable style seems to nullify us.
Real have Atletico’s number though.
We have Real’s number in recent past.
So, we beat Monaco. Real beat Atletico. We beat Real in final. Champions league is ours. Simple.
Caldara with another goal, 7?
Off topic but I really hope we bring him in during the summer instead of next year. Atlanta are a force this year, caldara is a big part of that! 7 goals for a center back is astonishing especially given the fact that he’s not playing in any other competition. The back line looks godly this year but why keep benatia when you can have caldara who’s actually better? Not even mentioning that we’d save around $20 million…???
Monaco has a superb squad, so much young talent that will probably be sold off in the summer. They did break the transfer record for money collected last year, wish we could mirror some of their academy. With all that being said we should have no problem with this team. Sure they have good young talent but come on guys, we kept the greatest player in the world at bay, suarez and Neymar were powerless against our back line. There is no reason we can’t dominate Monaco, MSN is way better than their frontline. With all the hype around Mbappe I can’t see him being better than suarez or Messi or Neymar lol come on now guys. Juve to win it 3-1 and March to the final vs Real Madrid. Gerald have no fear, we kept Barca to 30 shots of goal in two legs… you really think Monaco can do better???
And Barca should have scored at least three, my friend…likely more. They certainly had the chances. We did well, but at the same time Barca’s finishing in the second leg was appalling. We should have had 1-2 they should have had 3-4.