The first of this year’s Champions League semi-final see’s two of the games giants face each other. Juventus may not have been regulars at this stage of the competition for a while, now, but the Italians do have a rich history overall, having won it twice and reached the final on five other occasions, most recently on 2003. Real Madrid, the defending champions, have the most number of wins with 10, and are competing in the semi-finals for the fifth successive season, illustrating their tremendous consistency at this level. It is also a repeat of the 1998 final which the Spanish club were victorious in.
Having sealed their fourth consecutive Serie A at the weekend, Juve are on course for a tremendous treble with the Italian Cup final still to come. That match is scheduled to take place on the same weekend as the Champions League final so they will be hoping to postpone their meeting with Lazio. It could have been a different story for Massimo Allegri’s team after an stuttering group stage seen them secure qualification by a single point in the final round of fixtures. They have not looked back since, however, defeating Borussia Dortmund and Monaco in the knockout stages. This game will represent their biggest test to date, though, which is only to be expected with just four teams left.
Real’s quarter-final with city rivals, Atletico, was an epic battle and one which served noticed to the other teams left in the competition that the current holders will not give up their trophy lightly. Despite missing several key players and not quite being at their best in either leg, Real showed great determination and desire to eventually prevail. It still remains the case that no club have yet to retain the Champions League and for Real – who have so much association with this tournament – it would be another piece of history they would like to own.
Both these clubs endured fraught and tense encounters in the previous round, and there is every chance these games will be of a similar nature. Neither conceded home or away against their opponents in the quarter-finals, and made it through on the back of a solitary goal. That type of success is recognised as being one of Juventus’ main strengths but it is much less common for Carlo Ancelotti’s free-scoring Madrid team. Ancelotti is, of course, coming back to face a former club having managed in Turin over a decade ago. He will be well aware of his dangerous this particular Juve team can be but it may be some sort of advantage having such a knowledge about the club and the Italian game in general.
Juventus and Real Madrid are not in the habit of losing matches. The Italian’s have only lost three games in the league this season and they have all been away from home. Fiorentina are the only club, in any competition, to have beaten them at home this season. Real have yet to taste defeat away from home in this year’s Champions League and have conceded only once in their five games on the road. I think this all points to a low-scoring and very tight first leg. The visitors are still missing key players, including Karim Benzema and Luca Modric so I think their emphasis will be similar to their game with Atletico and not conceding. Juventus will definitely want to avoid losing an away goal to stay in the tie ahead of the second leg. Whilst both managers will be hoping to take a lead from this first leg, I do not think either of them will be too disappointed with a draw.
Draw 9/4 @ Coral
