CL | Quarter Final - 1st leg: Juventus - FC Barcelona 3-0

[KingLeo10]

we have been dire at times lately, but we'll rise to the occasion, all the more so if messi is feeling it. the team still has a few serial winners left in it, and with these high profile games, that can be a deciding factors. the chances of a win in turin are low but something like a 2-2 is very possible. juve didn't look all that great themselves in their two games v napoli recently. their approach was very negative.

 

[Devils]

It's still a decent draw. If you are saying our chances are less likely because we haven't improved the same applies against any other team. Only Leicester would be clearly more ideal.

Nah man, Juve is definitely a stronger team than Monaco and Dortmund.

I'd say the best teams we could have gotten are: Leicester, Monaco, Dortmund. Then would be Juve and Atletico. Worst would have been Madrid and Bayern.

 

[FlaFCB]

It's still a decent draw. If you are saying our chances are less likely because we haven't improved the same applies against any other team. Only Leicester would be clearly more ideal.

Juve is one of the hardest. Bvb or Monaco would also had been much better.

 

[Chong Li]

I'm pretty certain the idiot in charge will give his favorite toy (Gomes) the next chance to ruin our season.

 

[Barcilliant]

Juve are a very strong team. If we lose by two goals there is no way back. Unlike PSG they won't choke. They have a strong mentality and a stronger defence.

For some reason I think this will be like the Inter tie. They will win 3-1 at home. We will throw the kitchen sink at them at Camp Nou but only win 1-0.

The PSG win was great but PSG were shit and we had some luck too.

Our midfield is poor and Allegri will target that.

 

[Horatio]

Juve is one of the hardest. Bvb or Monaco would also had been much better.

We'll see. I am just thinking that this might be a case of serie A getting slightly overrated.

 

[Devils]

I'd only put Juve below Madrid and Bayern.

Juve is just definitely up there with the best but their playing style suits us better. Madrid and Bayern are the worst because they aggressively bully their opponents into the ground. Juve wont do that, but their strength is in different areas.

Imagine putting a guy like Andre Gomes in midfield going against guys like Modric, Kroos, Thiago or Vidal. It's like putting a baby lamb in a cage with a Siberian Tiger.

If we make it through to the next round better better pray we don't draw the winner of Bayern/Real.

 

[FlaFCB]

We'll see. I am just thinking that this might be a case of serie A getting slightly overrated.

Seria A might be, but Juve is a very strong team. Their defense is very solid, better than ours. MSN vs Bartra and Sokratis would be better than vs Bonucci and Chiellini.

 

[hardyboy]

Squad announcement for trip to Turin

www.fcbarcelona.com - 09/04/2017 | 13:41

Luis Enrique is taking the whole first team squad, except the injured Rafinha, as well as Barça B's Carles Aleñá and Àlex Carbonell

The demanding fixture list means the squad has little time to rest following the defeat to Malaga. The team have turned their attention to the crucial first leg of the Champions League quarter final against Juventus.
The available first team players trained on Sunday on the Tito Vilanova pitch at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper, together with Barça B’s Carles Aleñá and Àlex Carbonell. The players who started against Malaga took part in a recovery session.

At the end of the session, Luis Enrique announced the squad for the trip to Turin. He is taking all the available first team players, except for the injured Rafinha, including the suspended Sergio Busquets and the injured Arda and Aleix. Moreover, the manager has called up Aleñá and Carbonell.

The squad in full for the Juventus match is: Ter Stegen, Cillessen, Masip, Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Denis Suárez, Arda, Iniesta, Luis Suárez, Messi, Neymar Jr, Mascherano, Paco Alcácer, Jordi Alba, Digne, Sergi Roberto, André Gomes, Aleix Vidal, Umtiti, Mathieu, Aleñá (28) and Carbonell (30).





Playing with gomes and denis is playing with 2 men less. It won't matter the formation.

I'd even play Aleña ahead of those two right now.

Why is Busquets in the squad?? Isn't he suspended??

 

[Neymessi]

Have to be honest about it...I thought this was a decent draw after the PSG match because I thought that would be a turning point in our season. But quite clearly it wasn't. Now looking at it, I think this will end bad for us.

Wouldn't be surprised at all if we put in another terrible first leg performance like we did against PSG.

We were way worse than we are now at the time of PSG clash.

 

[hardyboy]

Getting a win in Turin with our current form is impossible..I'm not expecting a win from this game.. I just hope that we don't concede more than 2 goals and score an away goal so that we atleast have a chance to turn the tie around in the 2nd leg..we should play sensibly, even if we concede one goal we shouldn't go all out and attack like we were trying to do against PSG.. We should keep calm, defend well and wait for the opportunity to score...

 

[Ghostmaster]

Why is Busquets in the squad?? Isn't he suspended??

Vidal in the squad as well, they are just traveling with a team.

 

[JerseyAddict]

Vidal in the squad as well, they are just traveling with a team.

Roadtrip, yeah... coffe and pizza with Alves.

 

[Lelouch vi Britannia]

If we piss away what we accomplished with the 6-1, this team doesn't deserve shit.

I'm not too pessimistic about this game as long as Gomes doesn't play. We'll go back to the 3-4-3. Not expecting a win but I'm fine with that. Losing 2-1 away is a decent result in the CL knockouts. Drawing while scoring is a great one.

This is what the lineup should be with Busi out:

Mats
Umtiti-Pique-Mathieu
Masch
Rakitic-Iniesta
Messi
Roberto-Suarez-Neymar

I'd take Mathieu at CB over Gomes anywhere.

I don't think we'll get 4-0'd again but i'm afraid of a 2-0 or even a 1-0. Scoring 3-4 on Juve would be a very difficult task. We need that away goal.

I have some confidence in our ability to turn around a 2-1 or even 3-1. A 1-0 defeat is the result I'm most afraid of. 3-1 at least tells me we can score on them.

 

[TrueCule]

We're the favorites in this matchup. I think that Juventus is a good matchup for us. Unlike teams that press high up the pitch like Real and Bayern, Juventus play deep and wait for the right opportunity to strike. We are used on playing against teams that park the bus so that's why this style of play shouldn't be much of a surprise for us. On average they score 1 goal in 180 minutes. Their only winger is Cuadrado which will be a threat in the counterattack so will need to watch him carefully. Mandžukić will be more present in defence than in attack.
They don't have the right players to press high up like PSG did with Matuidi, Rabiot and Veratti. Their midfield consists of mostly DMs and box to box players (Khedira, Marchisio, Sturaro, Lemina), plus, they don't have a leader in the midfield like Pirlo.
Our goal for this match is to control the game, keep Higgy and Dybala at bay and try to score a crucial away goal which would give us a massive boost before the return leg in Barcelona. I would be happy with a 1-1 draw.

We usually step up against big teams. Note that our 4 defeats in La Liga were against 4 teams that aren't in top 9. We play better against better opponents.