Camp Nou attendance 89,514 Sun 13 Aug Real Madrid (Supercopa) 22:00 78.656 Tue 12 Sept Juventus (UCL) 20:45 72,857 Sat 9 Sept Espanyol 20:45 64,705 Mon 7 Aug Chapecoense (Gamper) 20:30 56.480 Sun 20 Aug Betis 20:15
Chiellini, Mandzukic, Howedes, Marchisio, Khedira, Cuadrado, Rugani, Lichtsteiner were all out for this match. Bentancur started his first competitive match since moving to Europe vs Barca at Camp Nou. Juve's fourth choice emergency RB, had to come in a match that was tied. Not to take anything away from Barca, but judging them based on this match is a stretch.
Barcelona played with many different players compare to last time we played them. Like I said, we're also looking good in all La liga games so far. Since losing to RM in pre season matches, we scored 12 goals in 4 matches with no goal conceided so its a good sign. We created better chances even before the opening goal , Dembele and Suarez almost scored and in second half Messi hit the post and Suarez had a goal wrongly disallowed. Even though they're missing many key players, we made the scoreline justified.
Barca scored on their 2nd shot on target. Dembele's opening chance come from a Juve mistaken back pass by the player that had to eventually be subbed off with an injury. Even that didn't end up as an attempt. Suarez did have a good shot from outside the box. Barca were certainly the better team in the 2nd half and deserved to win. No one that watched the game can argue that. With that said, it's September and they were up against a team missing 5/6 starters and 2/3 key substitutes. Most Juve fans game the team close to 0% chance of getting a point considering all the absences at Camp Nou no less. Imagine missing Pique, Semedo, Busquets, Iniesta, and Dembele and trying to win in Turin. These sides won't be at their best until at least January.
On a side note, Italy-Azzurri-Fan is always very respectful when he comes here to discuss. Should be appreciated. Wish our Real Madrid posters were like that.
I agree with those who think that it is still too early to judge this team. Even though we won the game yesterday, the attack still look unbalanced to me. However, midfield seems to have been a bit better than last season and the defence looks to be more solid and balanced now. Seemedo as RB has been great and I think the defence will only improve from here on providing us the platform to win titles this season. All that said, the results and performance of the team for the last games is exactly what was needed after the disastrous summer. These results have given the players much needed confidence on themselves and the team. Confidennce can't be downplayed in professional sports and therefore these strings of good results bear more weight than being merely good results against weak teams.
5/6 starters? Chiellini and Khedira would have started if fit. maybe Mandzukic, not sure who else of that group you are counting as starters? the others look like squad players. missing Pique, Semedo, Busquets, Iniesta, and Dembele would be more comparable to Juve missing Buffon, Chiellini, Barzagli, Pjanic, and Higuain.
True. Barca got 9 points and a +13 goal difference in the same three fixtures last season. That said, they also dropped points in easier/as 'easy' fixtures last season too so I'm happy with getting max points so far.
Jeee why all the Juve fans here listing missing players? It was a game, Juve had lots of starters missing and lost.. What should we Barca fans say about that? Say sorry we had full strength and we would have lost if Juve has Chielini etc? Get over it, move on and look forward. Juve will still progress to next round so it's not a big deal is it?
I pointed out just to put things into perspective. Normal analysis. It's merely a group game anyways. RM finished 2nd in their group last season and we all know how that ended up.
No guarantee Juve will finish top 2. It's a tricky group which will be made trickier if Sporting and Olympiakos don't split their two matches against each other (which now seems likely). Recent history also suggests that Juve won't cruise to a top 2 finish in the group stage. Of course they could still win the group too...
Good point, Sporting's win in Piraeus was very big, something I hope Barca can match, can Juve too? Let's say, purely for the sake of argument, that Barca never loses at home in group stage, and Olympiakos never wins on the road. In that hypothetical case Juve and Sporting comes down not just to the head to head (which they possibly split), but to who can take a point or three when (1) hosting Barca, and (2) visiting Piraeus. Sporting already did (2) in a grand way (all 3 points). I do think Juve advances, but Sporting's road win was big - much more so if Juve or Barca don't match that result.
Some people would disagree, but with everyone fit, I believe this is what our starting XI would look like: -Higuain- -Mandzukic-Dybala-Douglas Costa- -Pjanic-Marchisio- -Sandro-Chiellini-Barzagli-Howedes- -Buffon- I think the other poster meant: Chiellini, Howedes, Mandzukic, Khedira, Marchisio, and Cuadrado. However I don't think all of those will be regular starters on our team as the season goes by. Khedira and Cuadrado shouldn't be starting honestly with the players we have. To be honest we really don't know what our main starting XI will be this season. Allegri often plays around a bit for the first few months of the season before he comes to a conclusion on the best starting XI. New players also need time to adjust and know everyone's game which also plays a big factor.
With all of you talking about the group standings, I believe you will win the group, with us second. Sporting third. Olympiacos is not as good as they were a few years ago. I believe we will beat you guys in Turin as well, but you will still have the head to head record so will win the group. I predict 3-1 Juve win when Barca come to Turin, 3-0 if we are really lucky, but even 3-0 means you will 95% be ahead on goal difference. Most likely 3-1 anyway. It is possible we might drop a point in Portugal as well, but otherwise I see us winning the rest of our games. Our squad has not changed nearly as much as it had in the past years, so we aren't starting as slow, although still a little slow because we need time for our new players.
This is what I expect it to look like: Sporting 1-2 Barcelona Juventus 3-0 Olympiacos Juventus 2-0 Sporting Barcelona 5-0 Olympiacos Sporting 1-2 Juventus (Maybe 1-1) Olympiacos 1-3 Barcelona Juventus 3-1 Barcelona Sporting 2-0 Olympiacos Barcelona 4-0 Sporting Olympiacos 0-1 Juventus This would make the group end like this: 1. Barcelona 15pts (Bigger Goal Difference) 2. Juventus 15pts (maybe 13pts) 3. Sporting 6pts (maybe 7pts) 4. Olympiacos 0pts
Mandzukic, Chiellini, Rugani, Khedira/Marchisio, Howedes/Lichstenier all start over Costa, Benatia, Barzagli, Bentancur, and Sturaro. Sturaro, Bentancur, Benatia, Barzagli, and even Costa are all backups.
Your predictions are as good as mine and I agree on the order of the group you predicted and probably on who is most likely to win each individual game you listed. However, I think (1) somewhere along the way Olympiakos gets a point (of course yesterday was their best chance and they failed, so maybe not), (2) that Sporting gets at least a point if not three in a game against Juve or Barca, obviously most likely at their home, and (3) that Barca and Juve won't both finish with 15 points (though I guess that is mainly re-stating (2) unless either drops a point in Piraeus). I'm not saying you won't beat Barca in Turin (with a full squad at home you likely will), more that one or both squads (Barca and Juve) will drop at least a point along the way in a game you would not expect. Also (4) there will be at least 1 draw in the remaining 10 matches. As was mentioned above, many of us appreciate your insights into Juve and Serie A, as well as your always respectful interactions on the Barca forum.
Pretty basic game summary by Sid Lowe https://www.theguardian.com/football/2017/sep/12/barcelona-juventus-champions-league-match-report He does make the point that we've discussed a bit on the use of Dembele so far: The goal arrived at the very end of the half and underlined one of the ways Barcelona’s new front three may operate. So far Ernesto Valverde has shown little desire to simply slot Dembélé into the left-sided position vacated by Neymar. Instead, he began slightly to the right with Suárez central and Messi dropping to start moves or coming from deeper – and that was how this had arrived. The paragraph before he described the goal: The first came when the ball was clipped towards Dembélé who, back to goal, controlled and turned away from his markers. The pitch opened up before him and Messi to his left. The Argentinian exchanged passes with Luis Suárez on the edge of the area and guided the ball into the far corner. One of the few men to have resisted him was defeated at last: in their forth meeting, this was the Argentinian’s first goal against Gigi Buffon. What has concerned me about not plugging Dembele into Neymar's spot at LW is that (1) we seem a bit less balanced (stronger on the right side), and (2) it causes Suarez and/or Iniesta to play a bit wider at time, where I fear they are not able to offer their best play. But primarily we've seen Alba have more room to make bombing runs forward - which he did less when we had Neymar, and Alba has already assisted something like 3 of Messi's 8 goals so far. While I worry about Alba being able to do that every game, and still defend we've seen Umtiti supporting that flank well behind Alba.
Thanks for your appreciations bud, I always respect other teams, unless their fans are being disrespectful. Yeah I do have a feeling Juventus might drop one point in Portugal. I honestly don't see us losing any games though. Sporting isn't as good as you think by the way. They had a terrible UCL performance last season, but at the same time not to be underestimated. As for Barcelona, other than Juve in Turin, I don't see them dropping points elsewhere honestly. I suppose maybe to Sporting in Portugal as well, but with Messi and Suarez, I don't see it happening. Now again Sporting and Olympiacos are not teams to be underestimated, however they both have seen better days. Olympiacos is not good now. I suppose there best chance now is to take 1 point in Sporting, but considering the way Juventus play now, I don't see us dropping points in Greece. Same with Barcelona. Keep in mind Sporting is arguably third best team in Portugal, and look at what just happened with Benfica and Porto today? Both lost at home to teams they were expected to beat: Besiktas, and CSKA Moscow. Benfica especially. The fact is that the Portuguese teams are becoming selling clubs and failing to find replacements. In fact the only reason I have a feeling we could drop points in Portugal is just because of the way Juve sometimes underestimate teams, not because I think highly of Sporting at all.
Not to direspect you or Juve,what makes you confident that you will win in Turin? Because Chilleni/Cudarado and Khedira will be back? I agree they are all better than Benatia/Betancur but our team will also be very different by december.
Not really because of the players. I really have no idea who will be available by then, but assuming Chiellini and Mandzukic at least will be back. Anyway though we have only lost 1 home game in Turin ever in the UCL, and that was when Bayern beat us 2-0, and that was when we still were not a top tier team, and Bayern already had a 2-0 lead against us on aggregate. Other than that we have never lost a UCL game at home since we moved into our new stadium. Also in the past Barcelona's home record against real teams has always seemed to be miles above their away record. Like look at last season: Barca 4-0 Man City Man City 3-1 Barca PSG 4-0 Barca Barca 6-1 PSG Juve 3-0 Barca Barca 0-0 Juve and the season before that: Roma 1-1 Barca Barca 6-1 Roma Barca 2-1 Leverkusen Leverkusen 1-1 Barca Barca 2-1 Atletico Atletico 2-0 Barca We are superior to any of those teams you faced in the past that I just listed above. Also if you watch the game, you weren't that much better than us as the scoreline suggested. You did deserve the win, but it was really even until Sturaro gave you guys the second goal, and that was at Camp Nou. Imagine how much more intense and aggressive we will be in Turin. Again not disrespecting your team at all, but just explaining logic. Also by that time, our new players will have gotten to know each other and be more familiar with each others game. With all of that said, thats why I think we will win in Turin, however to top the group we will have to win at least 4-0 which will not happen. So you guys will 85% top the group.
We don't know that yet. We're not even 5 matches into the new season, how can you say this Juventus team is already better than, say, the Atletico team that reached the CL final? Lets wait until the end of the season, or at least 75% through it to make such assessments. Also CL results depend a lot on the context. E.g. In one of the matches you listed, Barca fielded a "B" team around Messi since the match meant nothing to Barca. Also, Man City had a bigger incentive to beat Barca at home last season since they were struggling up until then in the CL and Pep had a huge point to prove.