One of the big narratives of this year's Champions League has been the impressive performances of Juventus. The reigning Italian champions were expected to struggle this season after the sudden departure of coach Antonio Conte last summer, though his replacement, Massimiliano Allegri, has actually improved on his precessor. His tactical flexibility has been key for the bianconeri, who have shapeshifted their way past Borussia Dortmund and Monaco on their way to their first semifinal since they finished as runners-up to AC Milan over a decade ago.
Juventus vs. Real Madrid, UEFA Champions League draw: Juve face their toughest test yet
The Italian champions need to pull off a big upset to reach the final.
However, this tie is absolutely their hardest yet. Carlo Ancelotti's side have been far from the dominant, swashbuckling force that a team containing Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale would hope to be, but on personnel, the defending champions are far superior to the Italians. Real Madrid may historically have a pretty awful knockout stage record against Juve, but on paper they're now a considerably stronger outfit. The bianconeri will need to pull off a sizeable upset if they're to reach the final.
Key matchup: Juve's defence vs. Real Madrid's counter-attack
Juventus are a team that play without much width, making it difficult for them to launch quick counter-attacks through the flanks. As a result, Allegri's team tend to see quite a lot of possession in matches, and are reliant on the lateral movement of attacking midfielder Roberto Pereyra and the ingenuity of striker Carlos Tevez to open holes in the opposition defence.
However, the risk of looking to control the game is that it leaves them exposed on the counter-attack -- and in Ronaldo, Madrid boast the most devastating counter-attacker in the game. Juve will either have to adapt their gameplan and sit deep, or be very organised with their pressing if they’re to stop Madrid rapidly switching from defence to attack.
One to watch: Arturo Vidal
With Juventus' deepest midfielder, Andrea Pirlo, also their most defensively suspect, they need plenty of energy in the centre of the pitch to prevent them being overrun. Most of this workload is shouldered by Arturo Vidal, who seems to be finding his best form again after a long and worrying knee injury. Not only its he a true warrior in midfield, but a player who has a knack of arriving in the box to score at just the right moment. Without him -- and the injured Paul Pogba -- Juve lack dynamism in the midfield, and would be easily overrun.
Prediction
Allegri’s Juventus are looking much better prepared for the European stage than Conte’s Juventus, but they still lack the individual quality of Real Madrid. Because of that, we’d put our money on the Spaniards reaching a second consecutive final.
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