Champions League final preview: Juventus vs. Real Madrid

Juventus face Real Madrid in the Champions League final on Saturday, June 3 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. Here’s what to expect.

Both Juventus and Real Madrid secured their respective league championships in recent weeks. They are both in great form. A strong argument can be made that they’re the two best clubs in world soccer at the moment, which makes it fitting that they’ll meet in the Champions League final this Saturday in Cardiff, Wales.

Neither club are strangers to the Champions League final. Real Madrid are the defending champs and have won 11 European Cups overall, the most in history, including two of the last three. They will try to become the first club to successfully defend the title since the tournament was changed to the current Champions League format.

This will be Juventus’ ninth appearance in the final. They’ve lifted the trophy twice — in 1985 and 1996 — but have lost in the Champions League final a record six times, most recently against Barcelona in 2015.

Los Merengues have faced the Old Lady 18 times in European play with each side notching eight wins and two draws. They last faced off in the Champions League semifinals in 2015, when Juve knocked Real out of the competition by an aggregate score of 3-2.

How did they get here?

After finishing atop Group H on 14 points, Juventus breezed past Porto in the round of 16, winning the tie 3-0 on aggregate. They followed that up in the quarterfinals with an impressive win over Barcelona which saw Juve concede zero goals to the Spanish giants. They won 3-0 on aggregate, with all three goals coming in the fist leg in Turin.

Juve’s semifinal matchup against Monaco went nearly as smoothly as their previous knockout round ties thanks to their stingy defense. The Bianconeri allowed one goal over the two matches while scoring two in each. Gonzalo Higuain provided a brace in the first leg in Monaco while Mario Mandzukic and Dani Alves were on target to seal their spot in the final in the return leg at Juventus Stadium.

Real Madrid surprisingly finished second to Borussia Dortmund in Group F thanks to three draws. They seemed to put their group play struggles behind them as they easily dispatched Napoli in the round of 16 by an aggregate score of 6-2. Bayern Munich proved to be a much stiffer test in the quarterfinals. Real took control of the tie in the first leg in Munich, winning 2-1 thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo double.

The second leg in Madrid was a six-goal shootout. Los Blancos would need extra time and a Ronaldo hat-trick to finally send Bayern packing. The tie ended 6-3, setting up a pair of Madrid derbies in the semifinals.

Real Madrid jumped all over Atletico in the first leg at the Bernabeu, winning 3-0. Ronaldo supplied all of the goals, netting his second consecutive hat-trick in Champions League play, and bringing his goal tally over the last three matches to eight.

Atleti came out inspired at home in the second leg, scoring two goals in the first 16 minutes to draw within one of Real. But Isco’s goal just before halftime was all the insurance Los Merengues needed to secure their trip to the final in Cardiff as they won the tie 4-2 on aggregate.

How will they play?

This final is tantalizing for myriad reasons, not least of which is that it pits the competition’s best defense against its best attack. Real Madrid have scored 32 Champions League goals this campaign while Juventus have allowed only three.

Ronaldo, thanks to his scoring explosion in the knockout phase, is sitting on 10 Champions League goals, one shy of Lionel Messi’s tournament-best 11. Should he overtake his old rival, Ronaldo will be the competition’s leading scorer for the fifth straight season.

Manager Zinedine Zidane deploys Real Madrid in a truly terrifying 4-3-3 with a world-class player (seems a bit redundant to point that out, it’s Real Madrid) at every position. Ronaldo is joined in the front three by Karim Benzema and Isco, who has filled in marvelously for the injured Gareth Bale. Speaking of the Welsh winger, he’s back in full training, but is probably not fit enough to go the full 90, making the rise of Isco that much more important to Real’s chances.

The Madrid midfield of Luka Modric, Casemiro and Toni Kroos is equally adept at providing cover and joining in the attack. Modric, specifically, possesses the innate ability to unlock a defense with a razor-sharp pass. In the back, Real are led by veteran center-back and club captain Sergio Ramos. His rock-solid partnership with Raphael Varane allows Madrid’s attacking-minded left back Marcelo the freedom to get forward and overwhelm opposition defenders.

It’s not fair for a team to have Ronaldo and an full-back that can do this:

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri favors a modified 4-4-2 with striker Gonzalo Higuain leading the charge and attacker Paulo Dybala playing behind him. Much of the focus of the final will be on how Juve attempt to deal with the wave upon wave of Real Madrid attacks, but the Old Lady can get buckets as well.

Higuain has scored 32 goals in all competitions this season. Dybala has surged to the top of everyone’s must-watch list, scoring 15 domestic goals — to go along with seven assists — and four more in the Champions League. The 23-year-old Argentine burst onto the world stage after scoring a first-half brace against Barcelona in the quarterfinals back in April.

Juve also have dangerous players out wide in Mario Mandzukic, who was smartly converted from striker by Allegri, and the speedy Juan Cuadrado. Full-backs Dani Alves and Alex Sandro will also get forward in attack. Alves has been instrumental in providing offense in this Champions League campaign.

But Juventus’ real hopes of lifting the trophy rest with their defense. The parings of center backs Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci and central midfielders Sami Khedira and Miralem Pjanic have made the center of the field a fortress for Juve. They will need to stymie the Real Madrid attack enough to keep their side in the game. Keeping a clean sheet feels like a bit too much to ask, but one or two goals will be the max they can surrender if they hope to challenge for the trophy.

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Prediction

If Ronaldo was up for it, four armored tanks couldn’t keep him from scoring. And, in light of his recent form, it’s fair to say he’s up for it.

Juventus will surely put up a good fight in Cardiff on Saturday. They may even get out on the counter and find a goal. But the sheer firepower of Real Madrid is too much to withstand, no matter how many goals you have or haven’t given up.

Real Madrid will be the first club ever to win back-to-back Champions League trophies, making it a ridiculous 12 European titles overall.

Juventus 1 – 2 Real Madrid