- Juve must beat Bayern in their own backyard to qualify for the quarter-finals but face an almost impossible task with at least three key first team players set to miss the game
On the day it was announced that the miracle-working Catholic nun Mother Teresa will be made a saint, Juventus have been left praying for their own divine intervention against Bayern Munichin the Champions League.
If their task ahead of Wednesday’s last 16 second leg in Germany wasn’t hard enough already, it has now been made virtually impossible after the Bianconeri announced that star man Paulo Dybala and key midfielder Claudio Marchisio have been ruled out of the game.
The pair join almost-certain absentee Giorgio Chiellini and long-term victim Martin Caceres on the sidelines. With Mario Mandzukic also doubtful, Sami Khedira far from fully fit and Alvaro Morata horribly out of form, it would be a huge shock if Juventus were able to better the Bayern machine in their own backyard.
Pep Guardiola’s men boast a fearsome record on home soil. This season, in all competitions, they have played 17 games at the Allianz Arena. They have won 16, scoring 63 times at a rate of 3.7 goals a match. In the Champions League this term, they have struck 19 goals in their three home games, including a 5-1 thumping of Arsenal. Last term, they put seven past Shakhtar and six past Porto in the knockouts. The last continental team to win in Munich was Real Madrid two years ago.
If any club can confound logic though it is Juventus. Bayern and European champions Barcelona may be comfortably the two strongest teams on the continent right now but after them there is no team superior to a full-strength Juve. Last year’s Champions League runners-up have won 18 of their last 19 Serie A matches, while Gianluigi Buffon has gone 923 minutes without conceding a league goal. He is four minutes away from the all-time Serie A clean sheet record.
The Old Lady of Italian football also showed in the second half of the first leg against Bayern just how much character she has. Two goals down, most teams would have folded but Juventus demonstrated all of their Stile Juve, the never-say-die spirit, to give themselves hope ahead of the return trip.
They will also have been buoyed by just how successful they were in the last 30 minutes against a Bayern defence missing their best centre-back Jerome Boateng, as well as alternatives Javi Martinez and Holger Badstuber.
But Tuesday’s injury news - particularly that of Dybala - is a killer blow. The Argentine, described by Fabio Capello as the “best 22-year-old in the world due to his skill, technique and temperament”, is a world class match-winner who Juventus simply can’t do without.
After a slight dip in form in February, he was back to his brilliant best on Friday with an outrageous, Lionel Messi-style curling winner versus Sassuolo. If Mandzukic fails to pull through, then a strike-force of Morata and Simone Zaza will not strike too much fear into Bayern’s admittedly depleted defence.
Certainly, questions need to be asked of Juventus’ medical and athletic departments. Indeed, someone at the club needs to take responsibility and offer an explanation. The fitness coaches are the same staff who worked with coach Massimiliano Allegri at AC Milan – and it is well documented just how full the Rossoneri treatment room was between 2010 and 2014. Is it any coincidence that Juve are now experiencing the same epidemic?
Before the first leg against Bayern a month ago, it was revealed that the Bianconeri had suffered a whopping 43 injuries this season – with 29 of these being muscular problems. Dybala (foot) and Marchisio (left calf) are just the latest to be added to this list.
The raft of injuries at the start of the season threatened Juventus’ Scudetto defence as they found themselves way off the pace. Somehow, they managed to produce a magnificent recovery to haul themselves back to the Serie A summit. But they will need a Mother Teresa-like miracle on Wednesday if they are to overcome all their ailments and defeat the mighty Bayern.
On the day it was announced that the miracle-working Catholic nun Mother Teresa will be made a saint, Juventus have been left praying for their own divine intervention against Bayern Munichin the Champions League.
If their task ahead of Wednesday’s last 16 second leg in Germany wasn’t hard enough already, it has now been made virtually impossible after the Bianconeri announced that star man Paulo Dybala and key midfielder Claudio Marchisio have been ruled out of the game.
The pair join almost-certain absentee Giorgio Chiellini and long-term victim Martin Caceres on the sidelines. With Mario Mandzukic also doubtful, Sami Khedira far from fully fit and Alvaro Morata horribly out of form, it would be a huge shock if Juventus were able to better the Bayern machine in their own backyard.
Pep Guardiola’s men boast a fearsome record on home soil. This season, in all competitions, they have played 17 games at the Allianz Arena. They have won 16, scoring 63 times at a rate of 3.7 goals a match. In the Champions League this term, they have struck 19 goals in their three home games, including a 5-1 thumping of Arsenal. Last term, they put seven past Shakhtar and six past Porto in the knockouts. The last continental team to win in Munich was Real Madrid two years ago.
If any club can confound logic though it is Juventus. Bayern and European champions Barcelona may be comfortably the two strongest teams on the continent right now but after them there is no team superior to a full-strength Juve. Last year’s Champions League runners-up have won 18 of their last 19 Serie A matches, while Gianluigi Buffon has gone 923 minutes without conceding a league goal. He is four minutes away from the all-time Serie A clean sheet record.
The Old Lady of Italian football also showed in the second half of the first leg against Bayern just how much character she has. Two goals down, most teams would have folded but Juventus demonstrated all of their Stile Juve, the never-say-die spirit, to give themselves hope ahead of the return trip.
They will also have been buoyed by just how successful they were in the last 30 minutes against a Bayern defence missing their best centre-back Jerome Boateng, as well as alternatives Javi Martinez and Holger Badstuber.
But Tuesday’s injury news - particularly that of Dybala - is a killer blow. The Argentine, described by Fabio Capello as the “best 22-year-old in the world due to his skill, technique and temperament”, is a world class match-winner who Juventus simply can’t do without.
After a slight dip in form in February, he was back to his brilliant best on Friday with an outrageous, Lionel Messi-style curling winner versus Sassuolo. If Mandzukic fails to pull through, then a strike-force of Morata and Simone Zaza will not strike too much fear into Bayern’s admittedly depleted defence.
Certainly, questions need to be asked of Juventus’ medical and athletic departments. Indeed, someone at the club needs to take responsibility and offer an explanation. The fitness coaches are the same staff who worked with coach Massimiliano Allegri at AC Milan – and it is well documented just how full the Rossoneri treatment room was between 2010 and 2014. Is it any coincidence that Juve are now experiencing the same epidemic?
Before the first leg against Bayern a month ago, it was revealed that the Bianconeri had suffered a whopping 43 injuries this season – with 29 of these being muscular problems. Dybala (foot) and Marchisio (left calf) are just the latest to be added to this list.
The raft of injuries at the start of the season threatened Juventus’ Scudetto defence as they found themselves way off the pace. Somehow, they managed to produce a magnificent recovery to haul themselves back to the Serie A summit. But they will need a Mother Teresa-like miracle on Wednesday if they are to overcome all their ailments and defeat the mighty Bayern.
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