Monaco surprised me with how well they played in Turin last week. I knew they were capable of such a performance after their display at the Emirates against Arsenal but I expected Juventus’ style of play to be difficult for Monaco to match up against, but the Ligue 1 club more than held their own and remain in with a good chance of reaching the last four of the Champions League. The lack of an away goal may hinder their chances, and they will be slightly frustrated they couldn’t manage to beach the Juve’s defence, passing up a couple of excellent chances. On the other hand, there are few others you would bank on winning a game without conceding, with the team from the principality having won 18 games to nil this season, including three in the Champions League.
A home win, without conceding, in the first leg of a Champions League tie is all you can ask for and Juventus were able to achieve that last Tuesday. The Serie A Champions-elect would have been delighted with their efforts and they will travel to France knowing that if they can get an away goal, it would leave Monaco with a huge uphill task of going through. An Arturo Vidal penalty was the difference, last week, but Juve were not quite at their best in front of their own supporters. It was not too dissimilar a game to the first leg of their tie with Borussia Dortmund in the last round where they scraped a win. The Italians will be hoping that the second leg follows a similar path, too, having ran our very comfortable winners in Dortmund.
Leonardo Jardim decided to use Dimitar Berbatov from the bench last week as he decided to go with the younger legs of Yannick Ferreira Carrasco. It was the young Belgian who was guilty of missing Monaco’s best chance, and with chances likely to be at a premium on Wednesday evening, you would expect Berbatov to be restored to the starting line-up. The veteran Bulgarian has an abundance of class and although he may not be the most athletic, his experience and ability to hold the ball up will be vital if Monaco are to progress.
Andrea Pirlo made his return after a length absence, last week, whilst he also featured in the weekend win over Lazio. Those appearances should mean he is primed for the second leg and it should give the Juventus midfield more balance. That was an issue for them at times last week when the younger Monaco midfielders took advantage of some rustiness on the part of Pirlo. As the home side will have to be more adventurous with their need for a goal, it could see Pirlo adopting a more withdrawn role and that is likely to bring his excellent distribution, and ability to start attacks from deep, into play.
This might be one for the purist as both clubs know how to defend. Whilst Monaco know they have to score to at least take the game to extra time, they will not deviate too much from what they have done throughout this season. Dortmund came unstuck against Juventus as they forced the issue early in the game which played into Juve’s hands who continually hit them on the counter attack. I think Monaco have over-achieved to reach this stage and whilst they can be hard to break down, I still cannot forget how poor they looked in the second leg against Arsenal. Juventus are on a similar level to the English club and even without their star man Paul Pogba, I think with Pirlo feeding the in-form Carlos Tevez, they can win in Monte Carlo before staking a claim to reach their first Champions League final since 2002.
Juventus 7/5 @ Ladbrokes
