Juventus are ready to win the Champions League

After dismantling Barcelona three-nil on Tuesday night, Juventus are finally ready to win the Champions League.

Two years ago, Juventus reached the Champions League final against Barcelona with both teams on the verge of winning a treble and on that night, Barcelona came out victors with a 3-1 victory on that night. Juventus even getting to the final was an achievement for them, as they had in years previously vastly underperformed in Europe under Antonio Conte which had seen them go out 4-1 to Bayern Munich at one point.

But under new manager Allegri, the team preformed much better and seen them eliminate holders Real Madrid in the semi-finals before meeting Barcelona. Unfortunately for Juventus that night in the Champions League final, Barcelona were just too much for them with a deadly trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez with all three in fantastic form and Iniesta along with Rakitic also being terrific and Barcelona were just too much for Juventus. Barcelona ended up winning their second treble in less than a decade.

Juventus since that night have lost a lot of key players – Andrea Pirlo left to go to New York, Paul Pogba moved back to Manchester United in a world record fee, Vidal got his long-awaited transfer to Bayern Munich, Patrice Evra left to France, Carlos Tevez went back to Boca Juniors but Juventus have rebuilt their team superbly under Allegri.

They’ve brought in Dani Alves, Alex Sandro, Cuadrado, Sami Khedira, Paulo Dybala along with Gonzalo Higuain. The team Juventus have now are much better in every position now than they were two years ago when they lost the Champions League final. Alex Sandro is a much better left-back than the aging Evra and Higuain upfront is the goalscorer that the team has needed for years especially if they want to challenge in Europe.

Juventus made a big step on Tuesday night when they defeated Barcelona 3-0 in the first leg at the Juventus stadium. Granted, this Barcelona team is arguably one of the worst Barcelona teams in the last decade but the way that Juventus defeated Barcelona will be encouraging for them – PSG defeated Barcelona in the round of 16 with high pressing football filled with energy but did the opposite of that in the second leg by trying to sit back and soak up pressure but failed at doing it and it cost them.

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Juventus didn’t do this, they sat back and allowed Barcelona to have the ball while constantly hitting them on the counter and leaving Barcelona all over the place and arguably should have won the game 4-0 with the fourth being wrongly disallowed by the referee.

Juventus will most likely sit back at the Nou Camp with a five man defence but this won’t be an issue for them, Juventus have arguably the best defence in the world with Chiellini, Bonucci and Barzagli along with Buffon in goal. Sitting up to hit Barcelona on the counter will suit them and they have shown that they can defend immensely under pressure as they brilliantly denied Barcelona several chances in the game to get back into it, notably with Buffon denying Iniesta and Suarez.

Juventus are capable of grinding teams out and that is exactly what is needed in order to win the Champions League. It’s a big reason why Atletico Madrid have reached two Champions League finals in the last three years, they are capable of being able to grind teams out and get a result. Juventus may not be the strongest team left in the competition as Bayern Munich have been fantastic all season but with them losing to Real Madrid along with Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski missing for the second leg, there stands a good chance they could be out of the competition to Real Madrid.

If Juventus do eliminate Barcelona and Bayern Munich go out, Juventus would have to be considered strong favourites to win the competition. Real Madrid have been far too inconsistent this season to be considered contenders to win it and Dortmund/Monaco both play too open and should likely be beaten by Juventus or Atletico.

Juventus are on the verge of winning their sixth straight Serie A title and they’ve built a team capable of winning the Champions League with a manager who has shown he can take Juventus to this step. There is no better time for Juventus than now to go on and win the Champions League and their dismantling of Barcelona has shown that they are ready to go on and do so.

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