An unstoppable force meets an immovable object when free-scoring Monaco welcome one of Europe’s finest defences in Juventus to the Stade Louis II on Wednesday night.
This Champions League semi-final has paired together two teams who are polar opposites in philosophies.
Monaco’s prowess in front of goal has been highlighted in the knockout stages of Europe’s premier club competition as they have bagged six times across two legs against both Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.
Juventus may be more prosaic but in the quarter-finals they earned rave reviews for shutting out a Barcelona side that boasted the explosive forward trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
Ahead of the first leg (live on BT Sport 2, 7.45pm), we take a look at where the tie may be decided and the tools both have at their disposal to succeed.
Monaco are on course to dethrone Paris St Germain as French champions and that is due in no small part to their results on home soil, where they have won 15 of their 17 matches this season and average 3.35 goals per game, with only Lyon walking away from the principality with all three points. If they draw a blank at the halfway stage then the writing may be on the wall given Juve’s immense success on their home patch, where they have a perfect 17-0 record in Serie A, conceding only eight times, in 2016/17 and have not been bested in any competition since August 2015 – while the last time the Italian champions were beaten at the Juventus Stadium in the Champions League was April 2013.
Having amassed 95 goals from 34 Ligue 1 matches, it is plain to see where their strengths lie and that was magnified when they came up against Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund. Highly-rated 18-year-old Kylian Mbappe has particularly made his mark in these ties with five goals while he has forged a formidable link-up with winger Thomas Lemar, which has helped rejuvenate Radamel Falcao into rediscovering his own clinical form following miserable spells with Manchester United and Chelsea. One word of caution for Monaco fans: their recent Champions League triumphs have come against like-minded sides. How will they cope with an opponent primarily focused on snuffing out attacks?
Watching Juve nullify the much-vaunted MSN trio, it is no surprise they have only conceded twice in 10 Champions League games this term. Boss Massimiliano Allegri is therefore unlikely to diverge too much from the blueprint that worked to great effect at the Nou Camp: protecting a 3-0 lead, the Bianconeri made sure Barca’s forward line had precious little space through the middle as a back four of Dani Alves, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Alex Sandro put in imperious displays. It was a defensive masterclass but against Monaco they will be without the suspended Sami Khedira, an experienced hand who does a stellar job in front of the back four. Can Monaco’s frontline take advantage of his absence?
Monaco have failed to score in only three of their 55 matches this season – with Falcao finding the net 28 times in all competitions while strike partner Mbappe has contributed 24 goals – and one of those instances was last week when a largely second string side was beaten 5-0 by PSG in the Coupe de France. Juventus, on the verge of landing the Scudetto for a sixth successive season, have kept clean sheets in 25 of their 48 contests this season and, up until their 2-2 draw with Atalanta on Friday, they had gone more than 500 minutes without conceding.
0 comments:
Post a Comment