Man, is it me or has Allegri been on the money with his substitutions lately?

First against Tottenham and on Saturday against Milan.

Bringing on Cuadrado was genius, I mean, the impact was almost immediate.

Maybe Pjanic is having a bad run of form lately - can't blame players as everyone goes through highs and lows and Allegri probably realised that and took him off which allowed Khedira to run wild and unleashed the beast within.

I'll be honest though, after Dybala's goal which was a scorcher in itself, we were rather underwhelming and at times I found myself scrolling through instagram during the match . But boy did things change when Cuadrado and Bentacur come on.

This should set us up well for Real. I'm still nervous about the game although the guys over at the juventuz.com forum seem quite confident that we'll get the better of them this time.

well, Allegri has always been underrated ever since he came to Juve

sure, his tactics sometimes made us scratching our heads, but his merit speaks for themselves (2 UCL finals, 3 Scudetto and going to 4th now, 3 Coppa Italia trying to get the 4th now)

Real Madrid has been on fire lately, even with their weaker squad they managed to beat Las Palmas 3-0(which isn't an easy venue in La Liga). But still, i'm finger crossing that we got
probably a good chance to "upset" em since we've always been a better team against Madrid in UCL knockout stage. And Madrid record in Italy was not so good either. I'd expect a close
scoreline, maybe a 2-1 win..

You are right about his merit bro. It really does speak for itself; I mean when he was at Milan, he had a decimated squad and yet they did well in the league, I think not many managers are able to rotate a squad and bring out the best in a player/team with what they have at their disposal. You hear many managers complain about how clubs 'won't give them the players they want' in order to achieve something like the UCL for example. However, Allegri and Juve - I think have found a middle-ground where he is makes the most of what the club can buy in terms of talent.

Tonight is THE night! It looks like it's gonna be another sleepless night for me unless I managed to sleep around 9 or 10pm. Quite curious how we will exact our 'revenge' or perhaps in a more positive tone, redeem ourselves.

haha me too

a midfield of SMS (currently world best young box to box midfielder), pjanic (slick playmaker), fabinho (powerful defensive mid with great technique) will be truly awesome. nice selection

Man, anyone watching? Ronaldo just scored his second against us.

Great, Dybala sent off! Just when we need him most.

Wow, goal by Marcelo.. 3-0 to Real now.

This post has been edited by McF7y: Apr 4 2018, 04:16 AM

I don't mean to sound pessimistic guys but I really don't see us coming back from this. Real are just too strong and Ronaldo has a knack for scoring against us. Plus they have 3 away goals. It'll be nuts if we manage to turn it around next week.

This post has been edited by McF7y: Apr 4 2018, 04:33 AM

Wow what a trashing. I think its kinda lucky for me bcoz i'd overslept and missed this match

3-0 at home, which never happened b4 in Juve stadium...i don't think Juve can came back from this..but i'd expect the team to atleast to give some fight in Madrid and kept the scoreline respectable..kinda..

Hate to be negative, not this year again i guess. Miracle can happen, barca make a comeback from 0-4. However we dont have the same quality of players. I mean the wonder players. I wish the day we will hv someone like our beloved captain alex del piero n also nedved. Forza juve.

We were pushing for a goal and Ronaldo score a beauty of an over head kick goal just at the point where we were beginning to make a comeback. Also due to a misunderstanding between Buffon and Chiellini - if Chiellini had let Buffon take the ball, we could have avoided the goal.

I think that kind of broke us - we still don't have the mental strength to come back from that kind of an upset.

A huge disappointment, but true we don't have the players to make Barca's comeback - yet.

I'm kinda wondering what will happen at the end of the season, will Allegri leave or will the club make changes to the players.

At this point, i'd rather we go out with a bang and focus on the scudetto.

Continuing winning the scudetto is not the long term solution but the problem is we aint got the money

I am not faulting Allegri nor Dybala for this horror show. If we can look at the big picture, Dybala is a top talent but he is playing for a defensive team. It does not brings the best out of him

So why is Juve persistent on being a defensive team? Well, I think there are a few factors to it. One, keeping in tradition with the Juve way. Two, Allegri. Now Allegri is one smart cookie. Why? Because he knows that to morph Juve into an attacking team, where is he going to get the money from? Top attacking talents aint cheap nowadays. Heck, even top attacking managers like guardiola or klopp are expensive

So knowing his current situation, Allegri decided to use the defensive core of Buffon + BBC (bazagli, bonucci, chiellini and now bazagli, benatia, chiellini) to form a solid defensive unit instead. This works very well in the Serie A, hence he has won the treble of the treble domestically. However, because BBC is not at maldini's, nesta's or cannavaro's level, depending on them cant win us the big prizes in europe or at the national team level (euro 2012 4 nil defeat). This is our dilemma, our club's problem and it will continue to dog us moving forward unfortunately

This post has been edited by Jusstatic: Apr 4 2018, 10:33 AM

man, ronaldo's goal wouldnt happen if chiellini let buffon grab the ball. nevertheless, what a goal by cr7

also, i might add, spanish football have been roasting italian football for the past 10 years

starting with spain's 2008 euro championship win over italy in the quarters, italy national team and club football always loses in finals against spanish teams. sad state of football in italy now. Spain used to be unable to beat even italy's b team

The gap is obvious

We're still far behind from the likes of Madrid, Barca & Bayern

I'm sure all these 3 teams will once again feature in either semi final or the final, with Madrid & Bayern ome foot there already..didn''t think that Roma would do much against Barca either

Its time 4 entire italy 2 rebuild with freshest blood ever like the germans in 2000 who used 2 be dependant on the old folks

Il Principino has issued a rallying cry for the second leg.

Wishful thinking (out of respect to Madrid and the score line) but if we kept a clean sheet and scored 3 goals too, we could bring it to penalties and win perhaps?

Just dreaming la but can't rule out the Old Lady of Turin.

It is the harsh reality of Serie A and of Juve.

Would you say money is a factor too?

Real had their Galacticos period where just their strikers and midfield would've been the same cost as our entire team probably. I mean, in the long run this has an affect on clubs. Skill transfer, winning mentality etc. They may not have the Galacticos now but they started out in that trend and with the money they have, it will follow suit for generations to come. The best of the best will be attracted to the top clubs and will not choose other clubs. Even now, we can't deny Madrid boasts huge talent that we cannot afford.

Success breeds more success and in the case of Madrid, the cream of the crop are there, similar to Barca, Bayern etc.

In Juve's case, and do correct me if I'm wrong, but our transfer guru, while he has a keen eye for great talent at good bargains, I guess this works for Serie A, but for Europe - you need the best of the best to win. I'm not sure our financial standing allows us to spend.

I know there are lots of other factors to be considered such as player fitness, our coach's strategy etc.

Actually what boggles me also is that, Real are friggin third in their league, 4 points off Atletico and 13!!! points off Barca, and we are first in our league. I know that straight up comparisons like this doesn't really work because we aren't talking purely statistics here, football has the human element to it so that is a factor too. But I mean, we had all figured this would be the year to beat Madrid seeing that they aren't top of the league but the result was entirely different.

As the saying goes, it ain't over till it's over and we still have the second leg, although our chances seem slim and the team is probably broken by now, I'm quite sure Allegri will have words to fire up the team and at least put up a fight at the Bernabeu.

you are right about the money part. In the UCL, there will always be the 3 main contenders: real, barca and fc bayern to an extend. Then you have the money clubs man utd, man city, psg. then only it will come to us, chelsea, liverpool and atletico madrid. Man U and PSG might not be a big threat for now but they have the money. Another few round of spending + an appointment of the right manager and they will be a huge threat instantly. Out of PSG, Man U and Man city, City has the highest chance of becoming the next behemoth. They have the money, the talent, the bench and the manager. But winning will still be hard as that 3 clubs still stand in the way

Actually a 3rd place la liga team can whopped our ass shows how strong la liga is and how the mighty serie a has fallen. it used to be a 7th place fiorentina can beat perennial english champs man utd managed by ferguson, those days have long gone now due to stubborness n complacency by the italians

aint over until its over? admittedly, its over. in fact, i can see us losing by an even greater margin over two legs. I would expect us to lose 3-1 or 4-1 in madrid. overall real madrid to go through 6 -1 or 7 -1 on aggregate. This juve team is weaker than last season's, we have been playing like crap and cowards for the entire season now