Juventus V Real Madrid
Champions League – Semi-Finals [Tuesday, 5th May – 19:45 GMT] – Juventus Stadium
Juventus
Juventus have no time to celebrate clinching their fourth successive Scudetto as they welcome Real Madrid to Turin for the Champions League semi-final.
The Bianconeri clinched their 33rd league title at the weekend with a 1-0 victory at Sampdoria but attention has already turned to the Champions League, and the visit of the current title holders.
Speaking ahead of tomorrows game, Juve coach Max Allegri called for a big performance from his team whilst declaring there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ game.
“If we’re talking about a Champions League semi-final, we’re talking about top-notch teams,” Allegri told reporters.
“When you play these games you have to play… I don’t want to say a perfect game, because there’s no such thing, but you have to do great things in attack and defence.
“I don’t think that Juventus-Real Madrid and Real Madrid-Juventus are two games which will end 0-0, so we have to be good, especially in attack.
“They’re European champions, they’re the holders, so it’s true that they might be slight favourites ahead of us.
“That said, it’s not a semi-final where we have nothing to lose. If we lose we won’t make the final.
“We have to remember what we’ve done so far, and make the most of our chances, in the knowledge that we’re facing a great team, with great players.”
Turning his attention to the possible lineup, Allegri dropped a hint that he’ll stick with his 4-3-1-2 formation rather than the tried and tested 3-5-2.
“You’re all calm and good with numbers. Ancelotti has given you four, and I’ll give you another four…
“He’s a Coach whom I respect as a person, but especially for the things he’s achieved, as he’s won in Italy, England, France and Spain.
“As I said, it’s hard to imagine the two games will end 0-0, so we’ll have to be good in attack and defence.”
Allegri will have an almost fully-fit squad to choose from with Paul Pogba and Martin Caceres the only absentees, both through injury.
Gigi Buffon is fit and will start in goal with Stephan Lichtsteiner and Patrice Evra in the full-back roles while Leonardo Bonucci will probably start ahead of Andrea Barzagli to partner Giorgio Chiellini.
Andrea Pirlo should begin in midfield with Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio alongside him and Roberto Pereyra sitting behind a strike-duo of Carlos Tevez and Alvaro Morata.
Probable lineup:
4-3-1-2: Buffon; Lichtsteiner, Bonucci, Chiellini, Evra; Vidal, Pirlo, Marchisio; Pereyra; Tevez, Morata
Injured Players:
Caceres (ankle), Pogba (hamstring)
Suspended Players:
None
Form
(W-D-L-W-W)
Match Facts
- Unbeaten in 12 home matches in UEFA competition, Massimiliano Allegri’s men have won four out of five games in Turin in this campaign, including victories over Borussia Dortmund and AS Monaco in the knockout rounds.
- Overall, the Bianconeri have lost just one of 17 European home fixtures at the redeveloped Juventus Stadium (W10 D6 L1).
- The Italian champions have appeared in seven European Cup finals, winning twice.
- Chiellini, Lichtsteiner, Morata, Pogba, Roberto Pereyra, Tévez and Vidal are all a booking away from a ban.
- Carlos Tevez has scored as many goals in the Champions League this season (6) as he had in his five previous CL campaigns combined.
Real Madrid
Carlo Ancelotti was philosophical ahead of tomorrows semi-final, insisting that anything can happen between Juventus and Real Madrid.
“If Juve are in the semi-finals it’s because they deserve it,” Ancelotti told the media in his pre-match presser.
“It was a surprise, but that doesn’t mean that we’re the favourites. When you get to the semi-finals anything can happen.
“We don’t know who is better, I can honestly say that we are two different teams, with different characteristics and different players.
“Both sides will try to impose their qualities tomorrow, and we want to be the ones to do that.
“If Juve impose their style on us, then I think they have the better chance of winning, the more we impose ourselves then the better our chances will be.
“This is the Champions League, and these are the semi-finals. If you’re brave you win. If you’re afraid you lose.”
Ancelotti confirmed that he has a provisional starting XI while discussing how his side could potentially lineup.
“I have a team in mind, but I’m not telling you!”
“Cristiano [Ronaldo] is fine, I think. He was fine up until Saturday evening, and after that I don’t know. We had a light training session yesterday, he’s fine.
“We’ll replace [injured striker Karim] Benzema with Chicharito [Javier Hernandez] as we’ve always done.
“Bale? I think he’s very good, perfect in fact. He had a slight knock, but we gave him time to recover from this injury, and he’s physically ready.
“He only played 30 minutes against Sevilla, he’s fresh, he’s at 100 per cent.
“Three at the back? We’ve been preparing for this game with four defenders. I’ve used Sergio Ramos as a midfielder, and I may do that again tomorrow.
“The team has confidence at the moment, we’ve got some players out injured, but we’ve replaced them very well.
“We have confidence, we want to reach another final and we’ll do our best.”
I’ll confess to not having watched much of Real Madrid this season, but Carletto seems to be implying he’ll stick with a back 4 against Juve meaning Iker Casillas will start in goal with Raphaël Varane, Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal and Marcelo in front of him.
The midfield picks itself with Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez being partnered by one of either Sami Khedira or Isco.
Up front there’s little debate – Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale will play on either wing with Javier Hernández spearheading the attack.
Probable lineup:
4-3-3: Casillas; Carvajal, Ramos, Varane, Marcelo; Rodriguez, Kroos, Isco; Bale, Hernandez, Ronaldo
Injured players:
Alvaro Medran, Karim Benzema (Doubtful), Luka Modric
Suspended players:
None
Form
(W-W-W-W-W)
Match Facts
- Jupp Heynckes’ Madrid beat a Juve team coached by Marcello Lippi in the 1998 UEFA Champions League final.
- The Spanish giants have not conceded an away goal in 444 minutes in this season’s competition.
- Madrid have won eight of their last 11 away games – drawing two – and won all three in this season’s group stage.
- Ancelotti can become the first coach to win the trophy four times.
- Pepe, Ramos, Coentrão and Toni Kroos will incur a suspension with their next booking. Marcelo is available, having served a one-match ban against Atlético.
- Cristiano Ronaldo alone has attempted 28 shots on target in this campaign (more than any other player).
Formations:
Nice picture.
I’m nervous as FUCK for this match. How awesome would it be to suddenly play a final? I bet the disastrous 2010/11 season with Del Neri is still fresh in most fans heads, now we’re in the Champions League Semis. Only Juve can do that!
Idk who still remembers those dreadful years, because theyre all but a distant memory to me 🙂
But i do like to keep those memories close. To me, it adds more beauty to this incredible story. And those years were my first years as an “official” Juve fan, so its hard for me to forget
”And those years were my first years as an “official” Juve fan, so its hard for me to forget”
Same for me, so maybe thats why i still remember it so clearly.
Players sound confident and theyre dreaming of a triplete <3
Visualization is the first step to making a dream become reality…
Sognare non costa nulla
SOOOO Pumped for this game. Studying for finals is such a struggle with this match hanging over my head!
No words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWY5rXQslt8
Lol rewatched the whole match earlier…What a team that was.Such a shame they didn’t win it all
Nedved after the game: “I won’t play in the final and I am so sad I could die,”
They changed the rules about card suspension right? Whole different game if he’s in the squad. Che giocatore
he would have run Milan into the ground and broken Dida;s net with a thunderbolt. I’ll always believe we could have won that final if he had played
Same here boss. God what a team
Nedved always made something happen when he played, so since that match ended in 0-0, yeah he was the perfect player to do something about it.
Although i love all 3 goals, i always love watching Trezeguet’s goal. First to react and so damn fast when the ball was headed back, as if he had a ball magnet in his shoe.
storia di un grande amore
https://www.facebook.com/aroundjuventus/posts/813208302100440 Video of our guys singing l’inno. Buffon yells the entire thing. And when they say “bianco che abbraccia il nero” Pepe walks over to Evra and gives him a hug hahahahaha. Shows just how close our team is. Tevez also said in an interview today that this season’s success is mainly due to the fact that everyone plays together for the good of the team and not selfishly. Grande Juve
i love buffon so much
so freaking pumped for tomorrow! cant wait to see regazzi take down los blancos. what a great match it will be!
No bad calls for dives and such and we will go to the final!
JUVE 1-0 Real
that would be a great outcome. Im curious to see if allegri will have the team set up to try and go for the clean sheet and hope to score on the counter
That would be the perfect score for us 😛
Hoping for a clean sheet, but I doubt it, the games against Madrid usually have quite some goals, so I’m going 2-1 for this
Congrats my friend 😛
Haha thanks, I usually never guess this correctly xD
Waiting for the Q&A article with Madrid 😛
slight delay, they will get it to us ahead of next week !
Sweet, looking forward to read it!
I see goal.com also made a ‘best team’ out of Madrid and Juve players and surprisingly, they used 6 Juve players! It looks like this
Buffon
Lichtsteiner Ramos Chiellini Marcelo
Vidal Pirlo Kroos
James Tevez Ronaldo
Not even a bad team. They discarded Pogba and Modric as possibilities since both are injured.
I wonder if Tevez and Ronaldo would get along.
They do, they know each other from their days at United
Oh right. Would be an amazing team then. If Ronaldo doesn’t ego, the opponent is always powerless.
Eh, no Marchisio…
I’d pick Marchisio over Pirlo too, but it isn’t a bad line-up, that’s all I said 😛
take a look at the one on the football collective site – more balanced version of juve and real best xi
here https://t.co/rdTtGyLW5G
Going to look there right now 😛
This is the biggest match i am going to watch as a juve fan. I was too young to remember if i even watched them in 2003. Hopefully there will be bigger matches to come this month
Storia di un grande amore mate.
Dafock, reading STURARO is starting instead of Pereyra, making Vidal trequartista
pereyra picked up a minor injury in warmup. i think pulled calf or hamstring. allegri then said the switch was “tactical” i wonder.
Really? Didn’t even see anything about an injury, that would kinda explain it then
Just read that too and not impressed at all…
The world is gonna laugh at us with Sturaro, he might even end up with a red card.
Hey guys,it’s been a while ,been travelling for a while and ended up in Canada…gearing up for our match against Madrid but don’t like the fact that Allegri wanna sit Pereyra out…damn we need out best players for God sake!!
Apparently it’s because of injury 🙁
No Asamoah, no Pogba, no Pereyra, we can almost be happy to have Sturaro playing..
Never would have thought our midfield to be stretched thin
I don’t think so, he is on the bench according to the line ups..
Welkom terug :p
Memories – This site, back in 2003, just after the first leg in Madrid
That’s awesome, i tend to forget how long you’ve kept this site running.
Isn’t it after the 2nd leg though? Both matches are on there, one from 06.05 and one from 14.05.
Starting XI’s
DUUUTTCCH, BELGIAN!!! ANY STREEEEAMS
Just this. https://wiz1.net/channel1
I LOVE YOOU
Here we go… FORZA JUVEEEEEEEEEEE LETS DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JUVEEEEE
COME ONNNNN
Can’t afford mistakes. Vidal took way too long.
Pirlo, come on
Pirlo losing the ball always leads to danger. ALWAYS.
And this is exactly why Pirlo simply should not be playing CL games anymore..
But we just don’t have options anymore
He needs to be more careful. I believe he can easily adapt to being abit slower.
He just can’t lose balls like that, distribute them quicker or whatever, balloon it away if you have to, but this could have ended worse
Ooooh Morata is greedy to get a goal tonight, keep it dude
GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL GOAL GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL ALVAROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Just as i wrote a comment about him xD
Alvarooooooooooooooooooo
He’s looking great.
He’s so determined to prove himself, he’s everywhere! Scoring, defending, getting balls
MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
WHAT APLAAAAY
Alvaro!!!!!!
MARCHISIOS PASS TO TEVEZ<3
Holy shit Kroos has a really good long shot
Pirlo showing great movment.
Sturaro is doing great so far. Suprising.
Nit really. His first few games were shaky, but he showed great defensive work
He’s usually pretty late with his tackles.
True, but that comes with the nerves
i really like his attitude. he is a fighter
He even came close to assisting Tevez/score himself xD
THIS IS CONFIDENCE.
we are actually doing good
Were doing amazing
Dangerous run from Ronaldo there, fortunately lead to nothing
That shot.. With little time needed such hard and sharp shot. Luckily it was wide.
Damit
I hate that guy so much
…
Fucking great. Where the fuck was our defence? Chiellini nowhere, Bonucci nowhere, Lichtsteiner sleeping.
ill say it again, i hate that guy so much..
I like him as a player but hate him as a person.
But hes actually a great person
Depends. He can be a fucking dick. He does good things, but terrible things aswell. Maybe comparible to Balotelli.
explain please?
He does alot of charity.
that does not make him a good person. its more likely he does it to appear as a great person. he has the worst attitude ever.
The guy was raised out of poverty and is actualy very himble. He dumped a model because she wanted him to take her instead of his mom to an awards ceremony, but he chose his mom
On the other hand he’s dumped plenty of girls for worse reasons.
Point stays he does it. There’s plenty of players who barely do or don’t at all.
He hardly denies a signatute or a hug, always kind to his fans. Charity and overall a great person. The media makes him look like a dick. if the media followed you around likw they do to him, surely they could make you look like cunt… because thats ehat they do
”but if the media followed you around like they do to him, surely they could make you look like cunt… ”
This is very true. Would make everyone look like assholes.
Yup, thats what their job is. Thats why i dont listen to that sh*t anymore
I barely do but i just don’t like his attitude. Always showing off, trying to be popular. I hate that.
Every footballer does what he does, the o.ly difference is hes one of the best players in the world, and for reason, the media surrounds him. Its the media making him seem like that because the point A LOT OF ATTENTION to him.
No, the media isn’t around him on the field and he still shows off. Have you ever seen Buffon do weird shit just cuz of the media? No.
Holy fucking
yeah we were lucky
Would have signed for this score at half time. But damn we can never give away so much space to Ronaldo…
We were too casual on the buildbup play on the right. When
Kinda true what my commentator said, been a half of 2 games. Juve dominated the first half, Real the second half
Now lets dominate the 3rd quarter and 4th quarter 😛
Good idea :p
Two of their most dangerous oppurtunities came from us failing to close down their overlapping run. Basically unlucky because they caught us off position/focus. If only we took advantage of our early chances
Pretty much so far:
-Love you Morata
-Love you MVP
-Sturaro is a madman running infront of evra
-this ref is a fuckface told to help madrid when he can
-DONT LOSE THE BALL IN MIDFIELD
-evras ass is heavy to carry sometimes
Ahem, Tevez, ahem
Tevez has been great but i guess Ive expected this standard from him. Hes fuckin amazing this year.
Haha true
Ref isn’t helping Madrid, he’s english, that’s it. English referees are shit.
Come on guys..since Sturaro is doing good so far, I would like to see Pirlo come off midway second half for Pereyra to come in…or perhaps Machisio should come off..we need more aggression towards Real’s goal area.
Marchisio should stay. Playing well.
yes we need him
Definitely don’t take off Marchisio
I think Pirlo will come off for Barzagli between 60 and 70th minutes. Matri on for Morata between 75th and 85th minutes.
Good lord, somebody shoot me before this happens
I still have the gun we used on that commentator, so okay i will.
Good xD
On a personal level, this must be more than amazing for Sturaro. he was playing for genoa months ago, now he’s facing Real Madrid in the semifinals of the CL
Ref is calling the fouls way too easily..
penooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The fuck is wrong with this ref
CARLITOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOS
sorry if that spoiled anyone >.>
EL APAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHEEEEEEEEE
Tevezzzzzz
Sturaro off.. This seems unfair.
Though i’m very happy with the addition of Barzagli.
Mr. rock solid
GREAT job stuaro
Sturaro off for Barzagli, so 3-5-2 now? Dunno about this
vidal is fighting with all his got. but i worry he will get one more card
He aint gonna let a possible final slip from him.
fuck im nervous
You’re not alone, I was chewing my fingernails, I’m up to my elbows by now
Bonucci tried to outplay Ronaldo…
Yeah was a dumb move
Ffs take off Pirlo for Pereyra
I wonder if there’s a part of Ancelotti that likes what he sees. Italian team doing so well 😀
we are playing with heart and love for the club
The 3-5-2isnt working out. Its been al madrid since the switch
Shouldve been pereryra for pirlo
its still 2-1. so something must be working
Yea, but we re being pinned backed
Defensively we are extremely strong in this formation, but when we need to score it doesn’t work out. I’d love another goal, but i’m fine with 2-1 too.
It has never worked out in the CL.
We’re just doing this on purpose, everyone is in our own half
Marchisio has been excellent
Really great play !!!!
Unlucky Llorente. Should have tried shooting anyway. Passing back gives them a counter.
Nah he did well waste as much time as he can :p goalkick would have brought ball back directly too
Shooting would probably gave them a throw in instead of goal kick, thats how hard the angle was.
It’s most likely his confidence that made him pass instead of shoot.
He just saw the ball too late
Oh my freaking god Llorente :S
VICTORYYYYY
FORZA RAGAZZI
WE FUCKING WON
VIRTTORRIIIAAAAAAA
WE FUCKING DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONE MORE MATCH TO PLAY TO REACH THE FINAL! FORZA JUVE!!!!!!!!!
THIS OLD LADY IS GUNNING FOR GLORY
WE’VE DONE IT!!!!!! FINO ALLA FINALE!!!!
OMG SO FUCKING HAPPY
CHIELLINI WRECKING RONALDO at the end to stop the play and put him on the floor made me laugh so hard
Whoz suspended for the next game
The confidence today, the passing, technique… ALL ALLEGRI
The goals, Allegri too :p
DAI DAI DAI
Like Nedved said in the interview before the match, The old lady is back!!
The old lady is just missing her beautiful long blonde hair. Wish he could have played this final with us. (if we make it)
me too
PICTURE, I NEED PICTURES TO POST ON INSTA!!
https://metrouk2.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/wpid-goat_raymonds_450x300.jpg
Post it 😛
Hahhaahah
Sorry had to xD
Im certainly gonna post this in the near future
Hahaha great
Forza Juventus!!!! I wish Llorente finished the last chance..damnnnnnnnnnn
Maybe this is all part of Allegri’s masterplan. Humiliated too many times by Barcelona at Milan, he manipulated his Barca magnet, only to make it work in the final and pay them back with his best team in years!
The stars have all aligned at the right moments… the stars in black and white. Aside from some terroble give aways, Pirlo was great and the rest of the midfield even better. Marchisio showing what great technique he has by controlling and keeping calm with the ball even when around three madrid shirts. He made a great bunch of smart passes and 3 other excellent passes that two shouldve resulted in goal. Vidal was a maniac. BEAST. All over the pitch, off an on the ball plus making countless tackles. Sutraro, love this guy. Good on the ball, but his work rate was excellent.
I would praise the rest of the team, but im still on a quest for aperfect photo to post!! Ive already thought of the caption!!
Zebra kills the king lion, since Real are suppose to be kings.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xkStV43m8Fc/hqdefault.jpg
How about this?
Or perhaps this..
Saw the best caption fir that pic… “THIS ISNT LA LIGA GUYS”
This is the best.
This is gonna make for quite the game in the return leg. But for now FORZA JUVEEEE. I love this team
Feeling so fucking happy right now! It will be hard in Madrid but i really believe in this team. JUUUUUVE FC
Welcome back
Although i didnt completely agree with Sturaro starting over pererya. It was a really big game for him because hes so used to small matches. Couple months ago he was playing with genoa now he starts against real in the champions league semis. Him playing today his huge for his development and i think he’ll improve with each game he plays
I diubt anyone was with Sturaro over Pereyra, but it turned out to be a great decision. All through out the game, Ramoss passing was crap. I believe thats due to Sturaros constant pressing.
Still thrilled we won! Sturaro did surprisingly well, my MOM is definitely Morata, he was so determined to show himself, he was everywhere on that pitch.
Also my prediction was spot on, which is nice xp
Do we have any suspensions for next game
I believe UEFA clears all yellow cards after the Quarter Finals, so no, we don’t.