I can't wait to see how high and intensely Juve will press Barca. Allegri's plan vs Bayern in Turin was to press in their own half and counter. We all saw how difficult it was to do this without conceding. It doesn't mean that they won't have to do this at some point over the 180 minutes, yet it wouldn't be surprising if Juve start by aggressively pressing Barca. PSG did this to great effect at home. Atletico have done this successfully to start matches vs Barca as well. This issue with this is that PSG didn't have the attitude to do this for 180 minutes and Atletico tired in the second half of their most recent La Liga game vs them. This series will require a Mandzukic like effort. If Juve are physically at their peak and mentally powerful, they can have joy by pressing the hell out of Barca especially with Busquets out. Although Juve did well to comeback vs Bayern, Juve conceded too much respect to Bayern in Turin. Juve need to set the tone early. We talk so much about formations, players, etc. This KO will be decided on attitude and mental strength. In a way this reminds me of the Italy-Spain rivalry. Finally, Italy got over the hump in the summer. They did this by showing absolutely no fear vs Spain. They pressed like animals and pressed with speed. They finished clinically. Juve need this type of mentality to win.
Yup I hope we press Barcelona as high as possible. If we do this, it will really limit the MSN getting the ball in dangerous positions. Also not to mention Man City did that in Manchester when they beat Barca 3-1. Without Busquets our pressing might be able to kill them.
Our current formation is the best to take on Barca especially with Mandzukic and Chiellini we got a big height advantage over most of them so we must do our best to get the ball on their heads. Our 3 forwards all have different aspects to their play which I think could cause problems for Barca. The key IMO will really be our wing play, I really hope we opt to go with Sandro instead of Sturaro in midfield.
This is our chance to really establish us, time for Juve to prove themselves to the world!!! Going to be an awesome quarter finals!!!
I was really impressed by Rincon vs Porto, start him to add the physicality that Stururu brings but also quality to go along with it.
With Busquets out, Barca can start Masche which means Umtiti in the backline. They have given up 7 goals vs PSG and City when Umtiti started. It also makes it unlikely that Barca start with this back three system they have been trying to employ. If they did go with Masche in defense, that means Gomez/Turan, Iniesta, and Rakitic starts. Great points on the aerial advantage. The biggest one will be Mandzukic on Sergio Roberto. Cuadrado and Alves match up well with Neymar and Alba. Chiellini relishes the physical battles and this may be hugely important vs Suarez. Seeing as Juve have an abundance of CBs, Chiellini needs to be put on ice until these match ups. Rugani and Barza have more than enough quality to replace him as they have.
Oh PLEASE, Not Marciniak as ref. The guy that did our game that we won vs Lyon by miracle. Lemina sent off, and a penalty awarded to Lyon that Buffon saved. The guy that sent 2 Roma players off against Porto. Oh Well, at least he did PSG 4-0 Barca, but as far as I remember I saw no controversial calls against Barca. Maybe he doesn't like either team, I am not sure. I hope there is no rigging behind this and all of those calls were legit in those previous games.
Well now that I look back, maybe Marciniak isn't really against any of these teams or Serie A teams. Those 2 red cards by Roma weren't really soft decisions. Emerson and DDR did in fact kick the players, and clearly aimed at their legs and not the ball. With us vs Lyon, the penalty might have been a little soft, but I have seen many penalties given for these kinds of things, and there was definitely contact between Bonucci and the Lyon player. Lemina got sent off because of 2 yellows, but that second foul was more then just a regular tackle. Definitely a yellow, and he already had a yellow before that. I think he is just a ref on the sort of strict side and doesn't usually hesitate to give yellow cards. There were quite a few bookings in the PSG-Barca game as well. This might be good for us in some ways because Barcelona gets away with a lot, and maybe this time they won't. Also Neymar, Rakitic, and Pique are a yellow away from suspension. With this ref, I bet one of them will get booked if not more. Neymar tends to get booked a lot.
Who does Allegri start at RB? Alves, Licht, or Barza (as third CB with Cuadrado/Alves as RWB)? With the rest he received, I'm guessing Alves is his plan.
I can't remember the last time we've come into one of the KO series this healthy and on form. We have every reason to expect victory over two legs. Anything else will be disappointing.
It's likely that Barca will look to press from the first minute. I fear that starting Licht or Asamoah would cause problems when dealing with this since both are very limited on the ball. Mandzukic, Higuaín, Dybala, and Cuadrado/Alves ensures that Juve will have the capacity to pressure Barca high up the field. With that said, there will be times when Juve are stuck in their own end and need to get themselves out. If Juve can't do this successfully or even if one player struggles in this regard, Barca could force Juve back in what would be a very long day.
Let's hope that Mandzukic is at his best. Juve need him to be the beast he was earlier in the season.
A few outlets are reporting that Asamoah is favored to start over Sandro. If so, Allegri in we trust?
I honestly have a feeling Allegri said that just to create rumors, and try to make people start to think a bit. Possibly even to confuse Enrique as well and have him guessing. In his mind I am sure he knows he will start Sandro. No matter what I trust Allegri though, I think he knows what he is doing. There are a few games where Asamoah can have the game of his life. I know he is up for a game like this if Allegri starts him against Barcelona. I will never forget when we were playing against Bayern in Turin, and he was bringing on Hernanes and Sturaro, and we all thought we were did, but in fact they were having the games of their lives, and really pushing so hard. Sturaro even scored. He rarely gets his tactics or subs wrong in UCL.