7M - How to prevent another Camp Nou miracle?

Posted Tuesday, April 18, 2017 by 7M Sport

Paulo Dybala's brace and Giorgio Chiellini's goal propelled Juventus to a 3-0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on last Tuesday night. The Catalan squad needing another Camp Nou miracle now.

Unlike Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus is a reliable team in many ways. However, Camp Nou has been a nightmare for many hopeful challengers, thereby giving a lot of confidence to the Barca players. "If everything goes well, another comeback will happen, I believe in the team and in our potential," Neymar told Canal Esporte Interactivo. "Everything is lost, so we have nothing to lose and everything to win."

You have to give credit to Barcelona's stunning 6-1 win over PSG. Therefore the Bianconeri cannot be too careful if they want to stop their opponents from turning the tie around. So, how to prevent another Camp Nou miracle?

In an ideal world, the Serie A champions will copy the first leg essentially. Barcelona were always expecting to control more of the ball, especially on home field, and Juventus knew that if they were going to keep the 3-0 score line, they have to maximize their limited possession time, and that's exactly what they did in the first leg.

However, we need to admit that the Catalan side on Camp Nou pitch is so strong. Not to mention that Juventus already bagged 3 goals, which gives them some cushion. So everything will be back to the basic for the Turin club, which is something they are so familiar with: defense.

Cuadrado, Dybala, Mandzukic and Pjanic were so great offensively in the first leg. But they have to learn from Gonzalo Higuain. Although Higuain wasn't able to find the back of the net, he was pressuring the Barcelona defenders, and working tirelessly on both sides of the ball. This time around, the front players of Juves have to help their defenders more in order to contain Barca's frantic offense. They did a great job last time, but they need this major twist to secure an eventual victory.

Juventus should not defend Barcelona for the whole 90 minutes though. They may be very confident about their defense, but a team is certainly getting tired under 90-minute defensive mode circumstance. For example, why not play Sturaro and let him do all the running for Mandzukic? The manager should deploy players with much better defensive positioning. In turn, their frontline will be well-rested to put up efficient counter-attacking. If Massimiliano Allegri want to win another tactical battle, then he should come up with a solution for this somewhat conflicting winning method. We believe that the Italian mastermind will figure this out.

All in all, Juventus have to keep themselves on their toes, as they needed to be against such talented opponents. Surely, the second leg is bound to be a hell of good fight. So let's sit back and wait for it!

(7M/Russell)