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Key tactical matchups for Juventus vs Manchester United

By Duncan Kwok

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 20: Ashley Young, Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba, and Romelu Lukaku of Manchester United celebrate after the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on October 20, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Tom Purslow/Man Utd via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 20: Ashley Young, Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba, and Romelu Lukaku of Manchester United celebrate after the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on October 20, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Tom Purslow/Man Utd via Getty Images) /
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Don’t sleep on these battles in this tie for the ages.

Ahead of this gigantic matchup between Manchester United and Juventus, with Cristiano Ronaldo returning to Old Trafford for the second time in his career. We take a look at the key tactical matchups in this Champions League tie between the Bianconeri and the Red Devils.

Ronaldo vs the Manchester United defense

So far in the Premier League and Europe, Jose Mourinho has failed to field a consistent defense particularly with the selection of his centre-backs, with Mourinho consistently bemoaning the lack of quality ball-playing centre-backs he possesses.

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Against Juventus, Mourinho must pick his best pairing or Ronaldo will score goals for fun. Smalling should be part of the centre-back pairing, having been the most consistent centre-back of all. His heading ability will be crucial to stopping Ronaldo asserting his aerial dominance.

With Jones and Rojo out with injury, Lindelof and Bailly will fight to pair up with Smalling, although with Bailly out of favor, Lindelof should pair up with Smalling. Ronaldo will be licking his lips at the thought of Man Utd’s fragile defense and Lindelof will have to be calm and strong in the tackle or else Man Utd will ship goals against Juventus.

Lukaku vs the Juventus defense

To put Romelu Lukaku’s scoring record for Man Utd into context, he has scored more goals (five) in four games for Belgium this season than he has in 12 appearances for his Man Utd.

His static movement has certainly not helped him increase his goal tally while he wasn’t provided with quality service against Chelsea, there were chances against Newcastle that are usually bread and butter for the Belgian.

Juventus will prove to be the toughest defense yet for Lukaku to breach, Bonucci and Chiellini are masters in the art of defending and Lukaku has to be razor sharp if he is to escape the attention of the two sages of defending.

The midfield battle

Will Paul Pogba light up Old Trafford with magic or will his abilities be suppressed by Sami Khedira, the same can be applied for Miralem Pjanic vs Nemanja Matic.

Both teams possess talented playmakers in Pogba and Pjanic, the match could really be decided by which team which carves out the golden chance to win the game. Pogba has been the epitome of inconsistency but showed flashes of brilliance against Chelsea while Matic will have his hands full making sure Pjanic doesn’t find pockets of space in midfield to dictate play.

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This is a match that has so much promise and a win could lift a team closer to the Round of 16 while a loss will start another inquest.

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