Jose Mourinho goes full villain in Juve masterclass

The old Jose Mourinho was back as he masterminded a 2-1 victory away from home against Juventus while also making sure to taunt the opposition at full-time with his usual mind games.

Manchester United were easily brushed aside in the previous match between the two, which highlighted the gulf in quality between them and top sides in Europe such as Juventus. A response in terms of the performance was needed in this match even if it didn’t bring the desired result. The Red Devils delivered both in a shock 2-1 win at the Juventus Stadium after two late goals nullified former player Cristiano Ronaldo’s opener.

They currently sit second in their group, however, they have a match against bottom side Young Boys as well as the likely decider for second place against Valencia.

Jose Mourinho has received a lot of criticism this season, with some of it deserved, but he deserves credit for learning from his mistakes in order to find a way to contain the Italian champions. This is impressive in of itself considering how dominant Juventus are at home; they have only dropped points two points at the Allianz Stadium in all competitions this season and are currently on an 11-game unbeaten home run.

Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic provided a solid defensive platform in central midfield to screen the defense and push play to the wings. The Spaniard also dropped between the center-backs during the early build-up in order to ease ball retention by making it harder for them to be pressed. Paul Pogba dropped into central midfield in the defensive shape in order to avoid overloads in those areas, which could create openings for Juve’s potent attack. However, in possession, he had a free role as an advanced midfielder which allowed him to roam and create.

A front three of Anthony Martial, Alexis Sanchez and Jesse Lingard worked well due to the contrasting threats they provided. The Chilean’s dynamism was a lot more effective than Romelu Lukaku in the first leg, who was more of a static focal point because he drew defenders out of shape and tried various types of runs. Martial stayed wide to keep Juve stretched horizontally and provide a route for ball progression into the final third, and tracked back when needed to make sure Luke Shaw wasn’t isolated.

Lingard proved hard to track as he drifted into central areas from the right-wing; this allowed him to combine with the midfield and avoid a disconnect between the forwards and the rest of the team. The space he vacated gave Ashley Young space to run into and they had a much more coordinated attacking shape.

Defensively, they were solid and compact with strict orders to push play wide and double up Ronaldo as well as other major aerial threats if he wasn’t in the box. They were hard to draw out of shape and effectively frustrated La Vecchia Signora, especially in the first half.

United were also a lot more comfortable in possession compared to the reverse fixture as they sought to deny Juventus control of the game by keeping the ball circulating and deny the opposition chance to create sustained periods of pressure.

Unfortunately, they were undone by a chipped ball over the top of the defense from Leonardo Bonucci which landed perfectly in the path of Ronaldo to smash home. Ronaldo had anticipated the pass by staying on the shoulder of Victor Lindelof before quickly bursting past. The game opened up after this point as United took more risks in an attempt to find an equalizer so Juventus were able to cut through them on the counter.

Marcus Rashford, Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini were all brought on to try and bring United level. Rashford provided a more direct threat than Lingard, Mata added creativity in midfield in replace of the hard-working Herrera and Fellaini was a direct outlet for the team to work around. In contrast, Massimiliano Allegri was negative and tried to see out the game by bringing on Andrea Barzagli for Mattia Di Sciglio in order to try and shore up the defense.

Juan Cuadrado and Miralem Pjanic both missed clear-cut chances to seal the game not long after Ronaldo’s goal. They were made to pay for this as Juan Mata curled in a free kick in the 86th minute and a few minutes afterward the ball was in the net once again as Leonardo Bonucci scored an own goal in the pandemonium caused by an inswinging Ashley Young free kick. It gave United a surprising, yet important, victory even though Mourinho got his tactics and personnel spot on.

The fixture schedule doesn’t get any easier because they travel to league leaders and city rivals Manchester City in the next match. They could prove to be an even tougher proposition. This result will have given them confidence because there was a lot of improvement from the reverse fixture, although a City side with plenty to prove in the derby after the 3-2 loss last season is ominous. City demolished Shakhtar Donetsk 6-0 to keep up the momentum.