2017-2018 Champion's League Thread

I just looked up his official transfer value, and it currently sits at just above 70 million euros! You're right about Juve being cautious in the transfer market. I never imagined that we would make a move for Higuain, but two summers ago, he became a Bianconero. Mind you, that transfer was facilitated by Pogba's move to Manchester United. There is no reason why Marotta and co cannot pull off a similar coup with regards to Milinkovic-Savic. It's clear that winning the Champions League has become an obession for players, fans, and directors of Juventus Football Club. Bringing this guy to Turin would be a statement of intent and see us build the kind of midfield one needs to do well in European club football's elite competition.

 

100m-120m for SMS is still very risky. He only just broke out this year and it's not guarantee that he will play well at a big club. I could see it happen if Juve were able to sell Sandro for 70m.

Can (Free)
Midfielder (50m)
RB (30m)
Spinazzola (return)
Caldara (return)
Pjaca (return)

80m and Juve would be well covered in all areas. Getting four players returning from loan/free is a huge boost. So it's not out of the realm of possibility that Juve spend big in one area as a result of that.

 

I didn't realize that in this forum, SMS was the best way to refer to the player That makes sense -- typing his full name takes what feels like an eternity. His name on his Lazio jersey is just Sergej.

He is a player who really excites me. His midfield play is a big reason why Lazio has scored the most goals in Il Campionato this season. I suspect that if Serbia do reasonably well at the World Cup, he will have a say also.

100-120 million is certainly an eye-watering figure. We would likely have to sell a key player to finance the deal. I suppose the fact that AS Roma have surprisingly made it to the semifinal stage of the Champions League might see them earn a larger share of the television revenue for Serie A clubs. Historically, we've always earned the lion's share of that money.

The cost of doing business in European football these days with regards to transfer fees and player wages is pretty disconcerting. It is a conversation for another thread, I'm afraid...

 

If we get Can on a free, do we still move for SMS as well? Dante says that Lotito will play hardball, but SMS deserves a grander stage than the outdated Stadio Olimpico. He seems destined for greatness.

 

Same can be said of others that failed to live up to the hype. He may, but it's still at big risk at 100-125m.

Imagine being Chelsea having spent 70m for Morata. It never feels good to spend that to see the player underperform.

Since Can is free it might make it more likely that Juve could spend more than they otherwise would on a single player. Imagine having to spend 40-50m on a player like Can. That would all but rule out a huge acquisition. As a free transfer, there aren't many young international level players that have played for a top club in a top league. It would be a bargain.

 

With any transfer, there is always the risk that the player may not live up to expectations. When Dybala joined us back in 2015, there were those who felt like 40 million euros was a lot for a largely unproven player. Three years later, that looks like a steal. He has blossomed into a very good player. At 24 years of age, he has another 4-5 years before he is in his prime.

Morata is a case in point of the current malaise which affects many European strikers -- he is over hyped and lacks a true killer instinct. Chelsea overpaid for him. How does one does one explain that Pierrre-Emerick Aubameyang cost about 10 million less than him yet is a far more reliable and efficient finisher? There is a rumor that Morata wants to come back to Juve. Marotta would be foolish to bring him back.

Oh, and Chelsea can take a loss on Morata. I have no sympathy for these nouveaux riches clubs with no real winning tradition and culture which try to buy their way to success.

 

We did have measured attacks up until the equalizer. The tactics worked up until that point. The critique that many of us have is that it was evident that when we got to the equalizer, we became far too negative whereas many of us felt that we should have put more pressure on them to try and get the fourth which would have been the knockout punch. Clearly, Real's defense had been shaky all game--not to mention Allegri could have utilized the to subs to bring in fresh players where the Real players were fatigued.

The biggest issue I have with this approach (same as we utilized against Bayern a couple years back) is that you are trying to kill off the game by giving possession to a team with superior attacking talent. This isn't Benevento we're talking about. It cost us against the Germans because eventually they were able to find the breakthrough. Same against Real because we put this idiotic ref in the position where he would have to make a call, and those calls almost always go in the favor of Real Madrid.

If we're going to go out, I'd prefer to go out fighting and not wondering what could have been. We were the better side in that second leg--no excuse to allow us ti go out like that.

 

Agree with everything you said. I remain skeptical, though, that we drop that kind of money on a midfielder, especially where Marrotta believes he can get Can, a lesser player no doubt, on a free.

 

SMS isn't worth 100M+. If that is the going rate for him, we can certainly forgive Marrotta for not pulling the trigger.

 

What some of you fail to realize is the shift of tactics by Real after the third goal. Some of you want to make it one sided, as if the control of the match was upon us only. That is not how this game works. After the third goal, we did not just drop and try to play for extra time. We did try for the fourth goal. Conversely, Real stepped it up on both ends going for their own goal and playing tougher defensively. If there is any fault it was moments before the atrocious call where the players acted as if the whistle was about to be blown.

 

That Real may have gotten more aggressive didn't mean that we were not able to likewise adopt a more positive approach. It's not mutually exclusive. I would give your explanation the benefit of the doubt if we haven't seen Allegri's sides on multiple occasions collapse into a defensive shell to try and protect a scoreline. This was yet another occasion. One clue to show that this was the case is that the press was virtually gone after the equalizer. That's a tactical decision by Juve, having nothing to do with Real's tactics.

Assuming for the sake of argument that you are correct that Real adjusted its tactics and we couldn't cope, Allegri is still at fault for failing to utilize the two remaining subs to bring in fresh legs and/or sub off players who were playing poorly.

The bottom line is that the boys were awesome in getting us back in the tie. Much of the credit for that goes to Allegri as well. The issue with this side is that we have players of whom much is expected that simply don't show up in the big occasions coupled with the fact that Allegri has not shown the bravery to go for the kill when the opportunity presents itself.

 

Allegri deserves a lot of credit for building on the good work that Conte. Calciopoli is now a distant memory. We've consolidated our position as the best team in Italy. It is in the Champions League that some of his decisions have baffled. He seems afraid to go for the kill when the opponent is on the ropes. Wednesday and that loss to Bayern two years ago stick in the memory. These near-misses really irritate. Do you guys think he deserves the boot?

 

I don't think he would leave unless there is a mutual agreement between he and the club. It's not like he deserves to be sacked; however, I don't know that we can ever win a Champions League with him.

 

A fourth consecutive Serie A looks like a formality at this stage. The thing that really grates about Allegri is that he's had opportunities to really solidify his standing as one of the very best managers in European football, and because of a lack of temerity, said opportunities have slipped through his fingers.

It's been rumored that Alex Del Piero has considered going into management. It would be a few years before he could be considered for the role. Zidane has also been mentioned as coming back to Juve to coach. I think the people at the French Football Federation would like him to become sélectionneur once Deschamps' time comes to an end. Deschamps himself is someone I'd like to see coach Juve in the future.

 

How was it that we did not cope? Both legs, it was never one sided despite the results. In both legs, the home team just could not put it away, a combination of good saves, good defense and no luck. Real attacked when they were down 0:1 but could not hit the net. We had two nice goals that ended with Mandzukic finishing with headers and then a howler by Navas. While we scored the goals that put us back into the tie, we never dominated. Maybe we did relax a little when we went up by three goals. The same could be said about Real Madrid until the score was 0:3. But neither side quit and if not for a bad call, this match is going into extra time.

 

i just watched the replay... after the 3rd goal, we did not put one shot on target and Real put a solid 6 shots on target and 2 off target . They were living in our half for the entire last 30 minutes and spreading the ball all around the pitch.

Juve would defend well and try to counter... but we never entered their final third nor did we put one shot on target. Only chances came from a corner, a free kick on the 30 yard line, and a cross from left flank to Sami. Real defended almost every cross sent into the box.

Its amazing that Juve defended so well for so long, but we were also lucky their finishing was poor. Like Falc said, Juve never quit... but we also could do nothing to stop their attacks. Some good defending in the 18 by Juve however.

On the contrary, there was several dives by Real players in form of Ronaldo, Asensio and Vazquez(not counting the controversial pk fall) Real spent more time with the ball in our 18 then we spent in their final 3rd, not an exaggeration.

 

We really should have kept attacking, because even if Real did manage to score a goal. A 4-1 win would do it for us.

 

Im not sure Allegri has learned his lesson. He deserves credit for his work but he does not have balls to go for jugular in some of these games. He always takes the safer route and overthinks his line up selection. It doesn't matter who u bring in if our tactics arent right.

 

I wonder what out tactics would have been, had the penalty not have happened and we went into extra time? Do we try and score a 4th, or do we sit back and wait for penalties. The later would have been very risky because I doubt we would have beaten Real Madrid on penalties. They have more experienced penalty takers than we do.

 

Brilliant.