Match date: 13 May 2015

Juventus were arguably the better side when the two sides met last week in Turin for the first leg of the tie. Morata and Tevez gave the Italian side a 2-1 advantage coming into this match, but Ronaldo scored an away goal that could be crucial.

Carlo Ancelotti welcomed back Benzema into the starting XI and changed Real Madrid from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3 with Kroos, Isco, and James as the midfield trio. Sergio Ramos, who struggled in his midfield role last match, moved back into the centre of defense alongside Varane.

Massimiliano Allegri made just one change to the side that beat Real Madrid in Turin, as Paul Pogba was fit enough to start with Sturaro dropping out of the starting XI.



Juventus, Again, Bypass Midfield

In the first leg of the tie, much of Juventus’ success going forward was their ability to get bypass the midfield and Real Madrid’s press. This came down to a few things; the passing accuracy of Pirlo and Bonucci and the movement of Tevez and Morata. This match was very much the same in what Juventus looked to do. Tevez looked for space between the lines, which was somewhat less obvious with Real Madrid in a 4-3-3 as opposed to the 4-4-2 that they played last week. This meant that Toni Kroos was often in the space that Tevez wanted to drop into or at least the German was able to cut off the passing lanes into the Argentine striker. Nonetheless, Pirlo was still very capable of finding the Juventus number 10 in those spaces and Juventus, again, looked at their best when Tevez picked the ball up in these areas and situations and was able to dribble at the Real Madrid back four. Morata’s role was similar to last week’s as well as he tried to find space behind the Real Madrid back line and did so fairly well in the wide areas as Marcelo and Carvajal moved up the pitch. Below is a good example of Juventus going forward. Tevez is dropping into the space between the lines when he sees Pirlo pick the ball up and Morata is looking to make a run in behind.

Unlike in the last match, this approach was not very effective. Sergio Ramos was fairly good at tracking Tevez as the striker dropped off into the midfield space and when Morata was able to get on the ball from these direct passes, he was usually in a wide area of the pitch and isolated. Below you can see the comparison between the passes made by Juventus in the attacking third. By this alone, you can see that Morata was much ore isolated as the build up play and patience in the attacking third was lacking for Juventus in the second leg.

Marcelo and Carvajal

Again, a similar theme in this match to the last tie was that Marcelo and Carvajal got to see a lot of the ball and it is a consequence of Juventus playing a midfield diamond. In the match in Turin, however, the duo did not get much of the ball in dangerous areas of the pitch. A lot of their touches came in the middle third of the pitch, struggling to get into the final third or play quality crosses for Ronaldo and Bale. This changed with Real Madrid at home and searching for a goal. Marcelo was probably Real Madrid’s best player as he provided an excellent outlet down the left side of Real Madrid’s attack, put some good balls into the box, and played some wonderful balls into Benzema and Ronaldo in the space where Lichtsteiner left exposed with runs forward.

As seen above, the Brazilian completed the most passes in the final third for Real Madrid. In the first leg, Marchisio did fairly well tracking back and helping Lichtsteiner with defensive duties, but with Real Madrid playing a 4-3-3 rather than a 4-4-2, it meant that Marchisio and Pogba had to deal with James and Isco, respectively, and also had to move outside to close down Marcelo and Carvajal. There were a number of times that Marcelo came inside left, which allow Marchisio to pick him up quickly. In the screen capture below, you can see Marcelo in that area of the pitch with the ball just before he played an excellent ball into Benzema who pulled the ball back just behind Ronaldo with the score at 0-0.

James and Marcelo were good at rotating through the central and wide area which gave Marcelo more freedom in the wide areas when he was out there. As in the first leg, when Juventus defended in a deep block, Juventus’ diamond midfield became a flat four. When this happened, Real Madrid had a much harder time penetrating in an effective manner and were restricted to hopeful crosses into the middle.

Goals Change Games

The way the scoring went helped the neutrals. With Real Madrid going ahead, it meant that Juventus were forced to get their own away goal. Evra and Lichtsteiner got forward more, Vidal and Pogba looked to drive the team forward and, while the Italian side did not look as good going forward as they did last match, they got their goal through Morata after a free kick, a ball back into the box, a Paul Pogba header, and Morata’s half-volley into the ground. At 1-1, Real Madrid were now forced to get another goal to force extra time. About ten minutes after Morata’s goal, Ancelotti replaced Benzema with Hernandez, but it had little influence on the game other than some giving Madrid some good movement in and around the Juventus penalty area.

As we saw in the first leg, Allegri switched to a 3-5-2/5-3-2 with his team looking more and more likely to go through. Pirlo was taken off and replaced by Barzagli, who moved into the back line. Allegri used all three of his substitutions with Llorente coming on for Morata and Pereyra on for Pogba, but both were more about fresh legs than anything tactical.

Conclusion

A decent match, but in many ways, it was very similar to the first leg. Juventus sat deeper, but still looked to bypass the midfield and found a goal when they needed one. Allegri and Juventus must now prepare for Barcelona, who look more and more the favourite to win another final, but both sides are still competing for their respective trebles.

Ancelotti’s side had their chances, with a number of them coming to Bale and Benzema, but Ronaldo was only able to beat Buffon from the penalty spot. The lose will undoubtedly put Ancelotti under the spotlight, as this is how Perez and Real Madrid works, but one cannot help but think how much better Real Madrid would have been had Modric been fit.