Juventus embark on their Champions League campaign with dreams of winning the competition, coach Max Allegri hoping to expunge the disappointment of losing last year’s final 4-1 to Real Madrid. Their first opponents in the group stage will provide a stern test, but the Bianconeri will be feeling confident of a result against Barcelona after knocking them out at the quarter-final stage last term.
After changing his tactics to 4-2-3-1 at the midway point of last season, Allegri masterminded a 3-0 victory over Barca in Turin, followed by a 0-0 draw at Camp Nou. Paulo Dybala scored a brace in that first leg, and “La Joya” has been in fine form already this season.
Scoring in every league outing so far this year, the new Juventus number ten also scored his first ever hat-trick against Genoa before the international break. There has been some discussion over how Allegri plans to accommodate Dybala tactically this time around, with two different schools of thought.
Last Saturday’s victory over Chievo saw the Old Lady line up in a changed 4-3-3 formation. Mario Mandzukic and Douglas Costa initially supported Gonzalo Higuain up front, but it was when the latter was swapped for Dybala that the game turned on its head. The Argentine forward set up Higuain for the second goal and scored his own later on to make the final score 3-0.
It appeared like the initial work of Mandzukic and Costa in marking the Chievo full-backs was practice for stopping the dynamic forward play of the Barcelona wing-backs, making a 4-3-3 setup more likely. However, La Gazzetta dello Sport report that Allegri will revert back to 4-2-3-1 in the Champions League encounter in order that Dybala have a free role behind compatriot Higuain.
The coach will not have a full squad to select from, as the side is suffering with a large injury list. Midfielders Claudio Marchisio, Sami Khedira, Giorgio Chiellini, Mario Mandzukic and Benedikt Howedes are definitely out, whilst Alex Sandro remains a doubt. Stephan Lichtsteiner played at right-back on Saturday but has not made the final Champions League squad, meaning that former Milan defender Mattia De Sciglio could be handed a start.
The coach has lost in the final of the competition two out of the last three seasons, so how does it see it being different this time around? “The last three years have been fantastic, we achieved two Champions League Finals,” Allegri told UEFA.com.“The first was rather unexpected, while for the second, we had greater hopes of really winning it. We didn’t succeed but we still consider it a success because not everyone can play in a Champions League Final.
“Winning the Champions League can’t be an objective, it’s a dream. And to accomplish that dream, you have to work hard for so many years and, above all, develop a certain kind of mental approach. Juventus are aiming to be consistently among the top eight in Europe. In order to do that, we need to be signing quality players. I think the club are doing really well in this regard.”
Unfortunately for Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon – who is in the final year of his career – he doesn’t have the luxury of “so many years” and needs his side to make this season count in order to win the one trophy he so sorely lacks.
Predicted lineups:
Juventus (4-2-3-1) Buffon; De Sciglio, Barzagli, Rugani, Sandro; Pjanic, Matuidi; Costa, Dybala, Bernardeschi; Higuain
Barcelona (4-3-3) Ter Stegen; Roberto, Pique, Umtiti, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Dembele, Suarez, Messi
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia)
