Agencies
NEW DELHI, MAY 5
Finally, world’s greatest club football tournament has entered it’s final stretch and in the first leg of first semi-final, Juventus will welcome Real Madrid in Turin. Both the teams have done more than enough to justify their presence in the final four line-up in this prestigious competition.
In the run-up to the semi-final, the Italian outfit has stream-rolled their domestic opponents to capture four back-to-back Serie A title, while the defending champions from Madrid continue their brilliant scoring form despite trailing La Liga title fight by two points to their eternal rivals Barcelona.
However, the first leg at Turin will witness Carlo Ancelotti’s Real starting as slight favourites considering the way they have pummeled their opponents in the previous rounds of the competition. In contrast, Massimiliano Allegri’s Italian champions have had a tough path to the last-four.But the clash at Juventus Stadium will be a classic in its own right. Both the sides, under their hugely experienced managers, have their own super-stars besides hordes of unsung, but proven match-winners.
Juventus and Real Madrid have met 16 times in the continental competitions, with the Spanish giants victorious in eight games to Old Lady’s seven, and one drawn match. The only draw during their last meeting, 2-2 in Turin in November 2013.
But in the Champions League (since 1992), they have played each other only six times and in the last meeting, the Italian side got the better of Madrid in the semis in 2003.
Possible lineups:
Juventus: Gianluigi Buffon (capt.); Stephan Lichtsteiner, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini, Patrice Evra; Claudio Marchisio, Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal; Roberto Pereyra; Alvaro Morata, Carlos Tevez.
Out: Kwadwo Asamoah (knee), Martin Caceres (ankle), Luca Marrone (thigh), Paul Pogba (hamstring), Romulo (groin)
Real Madrid: Iker Casillas (capt.); Dani Carvajal, Pepe, Raphael Varane, Marcelo; James Rodriguez, Toni Kroos, Sergio Ramos, Isco; Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Out: Luca Modric (knee), Karim Benzema (knee)
Manager quotes:
Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus: “When you play in a Champions League semi-final, your mind is never completely clear. You play with the awareness of your own strengths, the objective of reaching the Final and knowing you are among the top four in Europe. They [Real Madrid] are an extraordinary squad with so much technique and pace. We’ll need a great performance, two of them actually.”
Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid: “Juve have always had a strong and competitive team. Winning here is not easy. Having said that, we want to realise a dream after winning the Champions League last year. We want to play in the final again this year, there are 180 minutes to be played, and we’ll do everything to fulfil this dream and achieve that goal. I think the most important thing is to play the best we can, using all the quality that we have. We’re preparing to play attacking football, but we also have to defend very well.”
