Juventus require ultimate defensive solution
Tonight is the European game’s showpiece, and European football is, without doubt, the dominant force in football. Most of the world’s great players are playing in Europe and both tonight’s teams are littered with stellar names.
So, against the backdrop of all the negative headlines surrounding football in recent days, the spotlight will be firmly on Berlin - and we could do with having a really great game to lift the spirits and remind everyone of what the sport is really all about.
Not that either club is squeaky-clean, in the sense that they have both had difficulties in keeping their own houses in order.
In 2006, as we know, Juventus were stripped of two league titles and demoted to Serie B in the ‘Calciopoli’ match-rigging scandal while, just last year, Barcelona were sanctioned with a transfer ban for breaching rules on the signing of players aged under 18.
But while there are plenty of good reasons for thinking that it could be a cracking game, we know from experience that it doesn’t always work out like that. With the Champions League at stake, I wouldn’t expect either team to be going into the match thinking they owe the football world a great night. Whilst that would be welcome, it will be a pleasant surprise to me if it happens.
I have seen tonight’s match boiled down to a contest of master attack versus master defence – and, for sure, there’s something in that.
But before I look in more detail at that scintillating Barca forward line and the problems they are bound to pose for the Juve defence, we shouldn’t forget that’s there’s also a midfield battle to be waged in Berlin. And, in the middle of the park, there are some great players, emerging contenders and old campaigners to vie for our attention.
With the likes of Pirlo, Vidal and Tevez in their team, Juventus are well capable of playing inventive, creative football.
In fact, when it comes to the goalkeeping, defensive and midfield positions, Juventus probably have the stronger players, even if the sheer weight of attacking advantage which Barcelona enjoy means it’s they who merit their billing as favourites going into the game.
Returning to the Juventus midfield, I’ve seen a lot of the games that they’ve played over the last couple of years and it’s clear that Andrea Pirlo is still very much the go-to man for his team-mates. They’re always trying to get him on the ball to start Juve attacks and there have been games this season when he has looked as good as he’s ever been.
By contrast, in the first half against Real Madrid in the semi-final in the Bernabeu, he was very unlike the Pirlo that we know, although he improved somewhat in the second half before being substituted. So maybe he doesn’t exert quite the same influence he did so consistently in his prime but he remains a really top player.
I’m still not entirely convinced by the much-vaunted Paul Pogba. I watched that second leg against Madrid very closely and I thought Pogba had one of those in-and-out games, alternating between alright moments and doing things which a top, top player would never do, before coming into the match much more the second half.
I still think there’s a big question mark over whether he will go on to become one of the greatest midfield players, which is the extravagant claim being made for him in some quarters. Right now, he has a fair distance to go before he can be put up there with someone like Patrick Vieira, with whom he’s often compared.
But, overall, Juventus have the superior midfield blend, given the differing qualities of Pirlo, Marchisio, Pogba and Vidal. And that could hand them the edge there tonight, not so much in controlling the play but in stopping the opposition.
Whatever else might be said about him, Pogba is a strong lad and Arturo Vidal is a really hard-working player up and down the pitch, so I can see them blocking the supply to the three boys up front for Barcelona.
For their part, the Catalans have issues in the middle of the park. Sergio Busquets, if he plays, is pedestrian at times and, because he’s not that quick, he might get himself booked early on and that could be a disadvantage. Ivan Rakitic has a good engine but lacks finesse.
And Andres Iniesta has not been the player he once was, perhaps because he’s missing the influence of his mate, Xavi. Iniesta seems a little bit subdued these days yet, even so, he remains the best midfielder that Barca have.
Speaking of Xavi, there’s a possibility that he could come off the bench to take his final bow for the club tonight and that would be fitting for a player of his stature. In fact, if Juventus do succeed in cutting off those supply lines, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Luis Enrique looks to Xavi to try and do something about that, as he has done in previous games. And so I do believe there’s a chance he could still have a significant say in the game if Juventus are stopping Barcelona from functioning.
Alternatively, if Barcelona are comfortable and the result is beyond question coming up to 90 minutes or the end of extra time, Xavi might get to come on for a ceremonial farewell. Either way, one last sight of him in the shirt would be fully deserved, not only for what he achieved with Barcelona but also with Spain, because here was a player who was at the very centre of all the things that were great about club and country when they ruled Europe and the world.
With all the inevitable focus on Barcelona’s forward line, it would be wrong to lose sight of Juve’s attacking prowess. Carlos Tevez has been outstanding this season and he’s a player who deserves this stage – and certainly won’t be over-awed by it.
Alvaro Morata is a big, strong unit and though he doesn’t bring a great deal of skill to proceedings – he’s more the target man that Tevez plays off - it’s a partnership that works very well and, supported by Pogba and Vidal, I have no doubt it’s one that will cause problems for the Barcelona defence.
On the face of it, Barcelona don’t concede many goals but that’s less a tribute to their defence than a consequence of the fact that they have the ball nearly all the time. Mascherano and Pique do a decent job but the core philosophy is one of “if we have the ball the other team can’t score”.
But a question mark hangs over their goalkeeping situation and it’s only stating the obvious to say that Dani Alves is a better attacking full-back than he is a defensive one – and much the same could be said of Jordi Alba on the other side of the pitch.
Consequently, Juventus have the possibility of getting one or even two goals tonight. The problem for them, however, is that even that might not be enough to win, for the very obvious reason that Barcelona now boast the most devastating three-pronged attack in world football, in the shape of Neymar, Suarez and, of course, Messi.
Even at full-strength, Juventus would have had a job on their hands to contain those three, and the loss of Giorgio Chiellini – who has been a colossus for them – serves only to tip the balance of power even more firmly towards Barcelona.
No-one can match the best Italian sides when it comes to defending but I don’t think there’s a team on the planet who can hope to keep that Barcelona trio under wraps. If one of them is kept quiet, the other two will do the business. And that’s why, for me, Barcelona will prevail in Berlin.
In Messi they have an exceptional footballer who seems to be in the form of his life. We didn’t think he could get any better but, this season, he has. In the last few months, in particular, what he has been doing is quite incredible. His performance against Bayern Munich was outstanding and the goal he scored in the Spanish Cup Final was barely believable.
How good is Messi in terms of the all-time greats? I would have no qualms about rating him as the best I’ve ever seen. In the sixties through to the 1970 World Cup, Pele was undoubtedly the best player in the world, although he never played in Europe and so couldn’t experience the kind of success there that Messi has enjoyed with Barcelona.
Maradona obviously dominated the World Cup in 1982 but he didn’t dominate European football domestically or in terms of the European Cup the way that Messi has either.
Another way to look at this is that I never saw Pele score a goal like the one Messi scored in the Copa del Rey. George Best was my big hero when I was growing up and, yes, he scored great goals, but never a goal quite like that either.
So can Juventus do anything to stop Messi tonight or at least minimise his influence? Well, Jose Mourinho has stopped him and Chelsea under Roberto Di Matteo stopped him but that wasn’t through man-to-man marking – that was everyone working together to deny him space
The problem for Juventus is that, such is Barcelona’s embarrassment of attacking riches, if you do expend energy and commit bodies to trying to shut down Messi, you’re merely creating problems for yourself elsewhere because, in truth, all three of their forward line probably merit something like that kind of individual attention.
As I know well from my time over there, Italians are expert at coming up with defensive solutions so it will be fascinating to see how they cope with the world’s most potent strike force tonight. And, of course. I have a personal as well as a professional interest in the contest. I retain an affection for my former club and still maintain contact with people at the club.
It’s been a few years since I’ve been back there but I was in touch this year with the Juventus president, Andrea Agnelli, and he told me I’d be most welcome to visit the club.
But while I think it’s great that Juventus are back at the top table, I still expect Barcelona to prevail. And I’ll be fine with that. This is not one of those heart versus head conundrums for me. The Messi-inspired Barcelona have been my favourite team over the last number of years and so, with my regard for Juventus undimmed, you could say I’m in a win-win situation tonight.
