Match Focus: Disciplined Attacking Trio Crucial in Juventus Win Over Real Madrid
Juventus’ welcome of Real Madrid on Tuesday night could well have been considered the curtain raiser for tonight’s main event, where European giants Barcelona host Bayern Munich. The focus of the fixture between the top teams in Spain and Germany will see Pep Guardiola return to the Camp Nou as an opposing manager for the first time since departing the Blaugrana back in 2012.
The Old Lady welcoming Los Blancos into her home may have been the warm up act, but the performance she gave certainly left a lot for tonight's teams to live up to. The hosts came racing out of the blocks at the Juventus Stadium, moving into a 1-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes, Álvaro Morata providing the finishing touch to a well-worked Bianconeri move. Cristiano Ronaldo leveled matters midway through the first half, before Carlos Tévez secured the first leg win from the penalty spot just before the hour mark.
Massimiliano Allegri deserves ample credit for the way he masterminded the victory over opposite number Carlo Ancelotti. Perhaps the biggest shock to Allegri’s XI was the decision to start Stefano Sturaro in place of Roberto Pereyra, thus moving Arturo Vidal into a more advanced position behind Morata and Tévez in the absence of the injured Paul Pogba. Sturaro had registered just 3 minutes of Champions League action prior to the welcome of Madrid, but performed the defensive duties that were expected of him before his 63rd minute withdrawal.
While not a match winning-performance from the 22-year-old, Sturaro provided the necessary cover for Patrice Evra to counter Dani Carvajal’s attacking threat. The youngster’s tenacity and doggedness meant Carvajal failed to impose himself on the game, highlighted in that the Spaniard gained a WhoScored rating of just 5.84, the worst of all players on the night.
In contrast, Juventus attacking trio Morata (7.96), Tévez (7.55) and Vidal (7.50) were among the highest rated performers on the night, according to WhoScored. Allegri set out to exploit Ancelotti’s decision to field Sergio Ramos in midfield in the absence of Luka Modric and the plan was executed with aplomb. Ramos did not look comfortable on the ball when possession was sent his way, while Toni Kroos was not the same calm, controlling influence without Modric by his side.
Every time Ramos was on the ball, the Spaniard was quickly closed down by industrious duo Tévez and Vidal, with Madrid lacking any composure in this key area of the pitch. Furthermore, Ramos’ inclination to drift to the right - presumably to cover for Carvajal when he did push forward - opened up space in the middle of the park that was exploited at any given opportunity by Juventus’ offensive triumvirate. Ramos’ lack of positional discipline in a more advanced position was capitalised on by the hosts early on, when Claudio Marchisio found Tévez in acres of space in the final third.
Ramos should have plugged the gap that had emerged in the midfield, but was out of position, which culminated in Morata’s goal. For Juventus’ second, the Spain international was again caught too far forward to prevent Tévez from baring down on goal, resulting in Carvajal bringing down the Argentine for the decisive penalty. Even when on the ball, though, Ramos struggled. He mustered a pass success rate of 84.4% compared to a season average in the Champions League of 87.9%. Kroos - who was often left exposed by Ramos - mustered a much-improved 93.9%. The German retained possession when needed, yet was often let down by his Spanish teammate in the middle of the park.
Without Modric alongside him, Kroos was forced to remain closer to his own goal rather than push forward and dictate play, which meant he played just the 1 key pass over the 90 minutes, despite Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, James Rodríguez and Isco all starting the fixture in Turin.
Allegri had his attacking players drop deeper to minimise Kroos’ influence and this helped Juventus pressurise the Madrid midfield. Vidal in particular performed his defensive duties exceptionally. Deployed at the tip of the midfield four, the ‘Warrior’ lived up to his nickname, with no Juventus player making more tackles (3) than Vidal on Tuesday night. His all-energy display in midfield allowed for the hosts to spring swift attacks, which benefitted speedy duo Morata and Tévez.
3 interceptions from Vidal also prevented the Madrid midfield from threading passes to the offensive pairing Ronaldo and Bale, both of whom underwhelmed by their standards in Turin, despite the former scoring. It was a stark contrast to Morata, who was awarded the WhoScored man of the match award following his display. Not only did the former Madrid trainee come back to haunt his former employers early on, but the young striker was a direct offensive outlet for his side.
Only Marcelo (3) completed more successful dribbles in the encounter than Morata (2), helping to ease the pressure on the Juventus defence prior to his 77th minute withdrawal and, given the lack of protection afforded to the Madrid backline, it allowed for the frontman to gain a head of steam in the final third with relative ease. Tévez, meanwhile, was his usual tireless self, which helped the Old Lady flourish on the grand stage.
Rather than surge forward and wait for the chances to present themselves, Juventus' offensive trio were disciplined enough to remain closer to their own goal and forge their own goalscoring opportunities, in the process furstrating the Madrid attack and limiting them to just 4 shots on target over the 90 minutes.
On Tuesday night, Allegri outperformed his compatriot in the opposite dugout to give Juventus a slim advantage ahead of next week’s second leg in Spain. Both Juventus and Madrid will welcome key players back for the return encounter at the Bernabeu, but it was Allegri who maximised the personnel at his disposal in a more effective manner than Ancelotti, tinkering just enough to secure victory in a memorable encounter for the Old Lady.
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