As FC Barcelona discovered last Wednesday, one does not simply mess with the Juventus defense. On Sunday, Juve hosted lowly Genoa at Juventus Stadium with the opportunity to stretch their lead at the top of Serie A to 11 points before Monday’s meeting between Roma and Pescara.
On Friday morning, the last Champions League draw of the season took place in Nyon, Switzerland to determine the semi-final matchups and gave us some very entertaining fixtures: Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid and Monaco vs Juventus. As football fans, we are all one step closer to finding out which teams will play for Europe’s most lucrative trophy on June 3rd in Cardiff. Will the Champions League Final be played between:
Real Madrid - Monaco
Real Madrid - Juventus
Atletico Madrid - Monaco
Atletico Madrid - Juventus
It’s come to light that the best opportunity Barcelona had to snatch a goal to begin their famous comeback against Juventus wasn’t squandered by Lionel Messi but by Luis Suarez at kick off.
Juventus defender Dani Alves was off the pitch, shaking hands with his old coaching staff (one coach playfully holding his hand long enough to incur a slap from Alves) while Luis Enrique beckoned the Brazilian to take a seat next to him.
For all the talk regarding what it would take for Barcelona to, once again, turn around a seemingly insurmountable lead, the difference between this return leg and the one against PSG was made immediately evident upon kickoff. Juventus played higher up the pitch, they made Barcelona entirely uncomfortable, they were sophisticatedly physical and they were capable of stringing passes together.
Barcelona vs Juventus: MSN try to work their magic for yet another comeback at home
Last 5 games
Barca: W L L W W
Juve: W W W L D
Barcelona find themselves in a deja vu situation again. The Catalans are trailing by three goals after being outclassed in Turin last week, and will need another big comeback to stay alive in Europe. Although they’re trailing a goal less than they did against PSG, they’re also facing a much tougher side to break down compared to the French outfit.
Luis Enrique has promised a return leg for the ages at Barcelona’s Camp Nou on Wednesday night. The Barca manager says that his side will have no choice but to attack for 90 minutes, and he believes that will allow Juventus to get forward with a sucker punch of their own.