Champions League quarterfinal preview: Juventus vs. Barcelona
Juventus will meet Barcelona in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, starting April 11 in Turin. Here’s what to expect during this matchup of European giants.
Juventus will host Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday at Juventus Stadium. The tie will then move to Barcelona for the second leg on Wednesday, April 19.
The two sides met in the Champions League final in 2015 with Barcelona coming away with the 3-1 win in Berlin. Juve and Barca have met in seven total previous matches in the past: Barcelona have won three, Juventus have won two and they drew twice.
How did they get here?
Both Juve and Barca won their respective Champions League groups by a comfortable margin to advance to the knockout rounds. The Bianconeri went unbeaten in a group that included Sevilla and Lyon, topping the group with three points to spare. Barcelona won five matches and lost one (15 points) in Group C with Manchester City taking the second spot on nine points.
The clubs had radically different experiences in the round of 16. Juventus traveled to Porto for the first leg and built a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Marko Pjaca and former Barca man Dani Alves. They would go on to win the tie 3-0 on aggregate.
As for Barcelona, they had to overcome a 4-0 first-leg pummeling away to PSG. The return leg at Camp Nou turned out to be the greatest Champions League knockout-round comeback of all time, as Barca poured in six goals to win the match 6-1, and the tie 6-5 on aggregate. Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi were on the score sheet, but it was Brazil international Neymar who saved the day by scoring two goals in three minutes to level the score on aggregate with only a few minutes of stoppage time left. He then provided the ball over the top that Sergio Roberto volleyed home to seal the win.
The two sides have also had very different campaigns domestically. Juventus have led Serie A from the start of the season and currently enjoy a six-point lead over second-place Roma. Third-place Napoli are a full 10 points behind the leaders. Gonzalo Higuain has been their most consistent goalscorer, netting 19 league goals in addition to three in the Champions League. Ageless wonder Gianluigi Buffon has posted 10 clean sheets, good for fourth best in Serie A.
Barcelona find themselves in a heated battle for the La Liga title, per usual. They have occupied first place at various times this season, but have relinquished the lead to rivals Real Madrid, and currently sit two points behind the leaders, who also possess a game in hand. There has been unrest at Camp Nou as manager Luis Enrique has already announced that he will be leaving the club this summer when his contract ends.
How will they play?
As with any match involving Barcelona, analyzing what kind of impact possession will have seems to be a waste of time. Barcelona will have the ball for a majority of the game. Next.
The most important question of the tie revolves around how Juventus will manage Barca’ front three. It’s hard to imagine even attempting to put together an effective defensive plan against Messi, Suarez and Neymar, but that’s exactly what Juve manager Massimiliano Allegri must do for these two quarterfinal legs.
Juventus right-back Dani Alves should be useful on and off the field against Barcelona, having played for the Spanish giants from 2008 to 2016. He’ll have an intimate knowledge of the tendencies and strategies of the Barca front three, even though that kind of thing doesn’t really seem to matter against players of their quality. The only issue with Alves is that he tends to be an attack-first full-back. This tie calls for a more disciplined approach.
The Juve left-back will most likely be another defender who enjoys getting forward: the speedy Alex Sandro. Much like Alves, he will need to pick his moments to attack wisely. Midfielder Sami Khedira will be charged with sitting in front of the center-backs — most likely Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci — to break up the Barca attack as much as possible. Good luck with that.
On offense, Juve will need to be efficient on the break. Attackers including Higuain, Mario Mandzukic, Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado must take full advantage of any time they get on the ball in their attacking third. Barcelona defenders Javier Mascherano, Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti are formidable when deployed in a three center-back formation, but Juve must take advantage of the few times they’ll get beyond the advanced midfield on the counter attack and force those three to make plays.
Next: Champions League QF preview: Borussia Dortmund vs. Monaco
Prediction
This is a mouthwatering matchup between Champions League heavyweights. Barcelona will certainly be favored, but it would be unwise to count out a Juventus club that has been firing on all cylinders all season.
Juventus need to come out of the first leg on Tuesday with a lead, and without having given up more than one away goal. Juve are unbeaten in 21 European competition matches at Juventus Stadium; they’ll need this trend to continue to have a shot at upsetting Barcelona.
As they’ve already shown, Barca are capable of erasing even the most disastrous first-leg result. That being said, they would love to go into the return leg at Camp Nou on April 19 within a goal or better, and they should. Barcelona will surely be good for a few goals in the second leg, securing their passage to the semifinals in the process.
Barcelona 3-2 Juventus