Arquitescu wrote:Excellent match. As mentioned, after Garay's opening goal in the 3rd minute Juventus took solid control of the match via Pirlo yet the lack of incision and decisiveness in the final third cost Juventus chances that were on the mould of opportunity in being finished. Tevez broke his European goal cherry yet his obsession earlier to free himself of the burden came at cost to the team while Vucinic just looked hilariously unfit. Conte does not realize that pairings such as Vucinic-Tevez, Osvaldo-Llorente, Osvaldo-Anyone, Giovinco-Tevez etc does not work, especially considering the gap between the midfield and attack renders the attack further immobile and uncomfortable in the 3-1-4-2. It does not make sense to play this formation to which is better used vs slower and more tactical teams. The pace of Benfica for the 2nd goal is what left the defence flat-footed; Benfica showing more desire than a disgustingly arrogant Juventus (Conte even subbing of his goalscorer for Pablo Osvaldo) is testament to how Benfica yearn to break Guttman's curse.

2nd leg can be advantageous given the correct atmosphere and an early goal to provide a certain cushion to Juventus, yet needlessly Juventus turned off after the goal and have slotted an advantage to the Portuguese side. Juventus' chances not finished will be rued....or not given Conte and the team's attitude towards this competition.

Andrea Pirlo and Luisão MOTM respectively.

I thought Pirlo was 50/50. All the good play went through him, but some of his balls were uncharacteristically wasteful. Pirlo and the rest of the midfield put in far too many half-assed balls that didn't go to the feet of the strikers or to Pogba when he drifted forward. Someone was always fighting for the header from the lofted ball instead of receiving a nice through ball to turn and shoot on.

Juve clearly missed Vidal. Could you imagine Vidal running into the box instead of Marchisio for that chance in the last 5 minutes? I bet he wouldn't have hit it straight at Artur. People will talk about Chiellini's chance, but Marchisio's before it was a much better opportunity. Quite simply, Vidal is a clutch player and Marchisio isn't. I don't want to hate on the guy because he's a hard worker, but Marchisio is rarely the player who will win you the game. Can you really say that Marchisio beat Perez today, despite all of Juve's possession? I don't think so. I think Marchisio is a player of high technical proficiency, but he's inert and needs to add some more dynamism to his game to justify his place in the midfield for both Juve & Italia.

I agree that Conte's substitutions were straight up stupid. Pairing Vucinic with Tevez is a proven failure, but then to sub on Gio and then Osvaldo instead of Llorente was poor from Conte.

Also, Conte's 3-5-2 gets exposed badly out wide on the counter.

Benfica Finish the job in Italy you legends

Lima for World Cup

halamadrid2 wrote:juve needs to get to the final for Serie A's sake. You should be cheering them because soon they will lose another spot and only two teams will be able to qualify

Italy needs to lose three more spots for two teams. If Benfica beat Juve, they will lose to Portugal but still have three teams. Then if France overtakes them Italy will still have three teams. After that comes the two team spots. For Italy to get four teams back, it will take a long long long time. The only way it can happen is if UEFA changes the rule and give top 4 or top 5 leagues four spots instead of the top 3 leagues.

Forza wrote:

Arquitescu wrote:Excellent match. As mentioned, after Garay's opening goal in the 3rd minute Juventus took solid control of the match via Pirlo yet the lack of incision and decisiveness in the final third cost Juventus chances that were on the mould of opportunity in being finished. Tevez broke his European goal cherry yet his obsession earlier to free himself of the burden came at cost to the team while Vucinic just looked hilariously unfit. Conte does not realize that pairings such as Vucinic-Tevez, Osvaldo-Llorente, Osvaldo-Anyone, Giovinco-Tevez etc does not work, especially considering the gap between the midfield and attack renders the attack further immobile and uncomfortable in the 3-1-4-2. It does not make sense to play this formation to which is better used vs slower and more tactical teams. The pace of Benfica for the 2nd goal is what left the defence flat-footed; Benfica showing more desire than a disgustingly arrogant Juventus (Conte even subbing of his goalscorer for Pablo Osvaldo) is testament to how Benfica yearn to break Guttman's curse.

2nd leg can be advantageous given the correct atmosphere and an early goal to provide a certain cushion to Juventus, yet needlessly Juventus turned off after the goal and have slotted an advantage to the Portuguese side. Juventus' chances not finished will be rued....or not given Conte and the team's attitude towards this competition.

Andrea Pirlo and Luisão MOTM respectively.

I thought Pirlo was 50/50. All the good play went through him, but some of his balls were uncharacteristically wasteful. Pirlo and the rest of the midfield put in far too many half-assed balls that didn't go to the feet of the strikers or to Pogba when he drifted forward. Someone was always fighting for the header from the lofted ball instead of receiving a nice through ball to turn and shoot on.

Juve clearly missed Vidal. Could you imagine Vidal running into the box instead of Marchisio for that chance in the last 5 minutes? I bet he wouldn't have hit it straight at Artur. People will talk about Chiellini's chance, but Marchisio's before it was a much better opportunity. Quite simply, Vidal is a clutch player and Marchisio isn't. I don't want to hate on the guy because he's a hard worker, but Marchisio is rarely the player who will win you the game. Can you really say that Marchisio beat Perez today, despite all of Juve's possession? I don't think so. I think Marchisio is a player of high technical proficiency, but he's inert and needs to add some more dynamism to his game to justify his place in the midfield for both Juve & Italia.

I agree that Conte's substitutions were straight up stupid. Pairing Vucinic with Tevez is a proven failure, but then to sub on Gio and then Osvaldo instead of Llorente was poor from Conte.

Also, Conte's 3-5-2 gets exposed badly out wide on the counter.

Agree on this one. Pirlo looked a bit off the whole match.
Vidal was sorely missed not only in the attacking sense but in the whole midfield. Starting Vucinic and then subbing in Osvaldo.. not even commenting on this one. Vucinic has played ~ 100 minutes this year and looked extremely slow and out of form, and Conte starts him in the most important match of the season. Not to say LOLrente would have been great for holding up the ball, taking away a lot pressure from Tevez.

Seriously, I'm sorry for Carlitos. You could see he didn't trust his teammates in the attacking sense at all, and had to do all the job himself. Totally understandable imo. That's not like that when LOLrente is on the pitch..

Juventus coach Antonio Conte believes all of Italy can be proud of his side's performance in the 2-1 loss to Benfica in Lisbon.

A late Lima goal saw the Portuguese champions triumph in Lisbon, after Carlos had cancelled out Ezequiel Garay's third-minute opener in what proved a tightly contested Europa League semi-final first-leg clash at the Estadio da Luz.

However, Conte was left to rue the final score after his side responded well to Ezequiel Garay's early goal but feels that his side did Italian football proud.

"There is great result for this unjust result," he told Sky Sport Italia.

"The game didn't start in the best way, as we conceded a couple of minutes from a set play. However, after that we took control and allowed Benfica practically nothing.

"We felt from one moment to the next they would capitulate, but instead their goal arrived out of nowhere. It's a shame. At that moment we were pushing for a second but we fell alseep at the back.

"The semi-final is open and the Juventus Stadium can match the extraordinary atmosphere in Lisbon.

"This performance gives me confidence. We didn't come and play like a stereotypical Italian team, we attacked and kept up the tempo. We kept up the honour of Italian football tonight."

Bonucci is such a liability, take him out for an attacker and we'd probably be better off defensively despite being a man lighter at the back

That's how bad he was.

only a thing would change if Portugal overcomes Italy in ranking :
since 2014 2015 the 5th on table goes directly to EL's group and no play off but you must be at least 4th in global ranking ... so if Benfica knocks out Juventus Italian clubs will have only this small nuisance ( just 1 play off anyway , at end of August ... while the 6th in table plays even at beginning of August)
it would be a shame more than a problem ... I mean  , many see as annoyance the Bundesliga above Serie A,  let alone the Portoguese league ... although I think it would be a temporary probolem , in long run  the Italian clubs should get again than place than Portoguese . I'd be more worried about Ligue One with Monaco and PSG

Juve and Benfica need  absolutely to recover Vidal and Gaitan for return match . While Salvio is out surely.

Italy won't lose spots but I think the qualification rounds theoretically become more difficult. It also means that Italian teams in the CL are more likely to be put in more difficult groups.

Portugal football is where it is right now because of the Europa League. They play consistent in EL.
You remember a few years back when 3 Portuguese teams were in the EL semis? Porto, Benfica, Braga.
And on top of that, Benfica and Porto are in the semis/final of EL almost every year for a few years now. That's why both of them are in 1st pot for the CL draw and the likes of Milan, Juve, etc aren't.

Basically they are playing it smartly, why would they bother to get knocked out in first knockout stage in CL when they can go on and win EL or reach the final and boost their league

BusterLfc wrote:Portugal football is where it is right now because of the Europa League. They play consistent in EL.
You remember a few years back when 3 Portuguese teams were in the EL semis? Porto, Benfica, Braga.
And on top of that, Benfica and Porto are in the semis/final of EL almost every year for a few years now. That's why both of them are in 1st pot for the CL draw and the likes of Milan, Juve, etc aren't.

Basically they are playing it smartly, why would they bother to get knocked out in first knockout stage in CL when they can go on and win EL or reach the final and boost their league

it is just because of EL and this thing to relegate the 3rd of CL ( it has really sense this? ) was manna from heaven for them . This is a cup where Iberian clubs give their better, just seeing Sevilla ... in this moment the club more in fine form between these 4 . Valencia was unlucky to tie just against them.
Italian clubs dominated  this cup in 90s, the old Uefa Cup , we saw often final all Italian ( I can testify ) , now everything is reversed ... if before it was the cup who gave best satisfations to Italy, now it 's the cup who causes the wounds worse.
Because the German 's overtaking is born by Europe League results (Werder Brema etc) and then chasm widened from Bayern in CL ... , because IF the Portugal overtakes the Italy it will be just for this cup. Again.
From kings to bottom of the heap.
I hope to be overcame anyway .
It's better than to see Juve champions of course  anyway Juve is still the favorite to win this cup in their stadium. Not so impressed by Benfica yesterday , just flashes of that squad who was close to win the EL last year, and it was not only because they played against Juventus future Serie A champions yesterday... but this  squad lose too much without Salvio and Gaitan, their wingers, a squad who plays for them. Yes, Juve missed Vidal and Juve on the contrary it is a squad who plays for midifelders (and not for wingers as Benf ), but  Marchisio is a great reserve ... I cannot say the same for the Benfica tbf .
It will be necessary to recuperate the last one for return match. 2-1 is not a great result.

Valencia:

Alves; Joao, R. Costa, Mathieu, Bernat; D. Parejo, Keita; Feghouli, Vargas, Piatti; Jonas

Sevilla:

Beto; Coke, Pareja, Fazio, Fernando Navarro; Carriço, M'Bia; Reyes, Rakitic, Vitolo; Bacca

Juventus: Buffon; Caceres, Bonucci, Chiellini; Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Pirlo, Pogba, Asamoah; Tevez, Llorente

Juventus bench: Storari, Barzagli, Marchisio, Padoin, Vucinic, Giovinco, Osvaldo

Benfica: Oblak; Maxi Pereira, Luisao, Garay, Siqueira; Ruben Amorim, Perez; L Markovic, Rodrigo, Gaitan; Lima

Benfica bench: Artur, Jardel, Andre Almeida, Sulejmani, Ivan Cavaleiro, Oscar Cardozo, Salvio

relying on vargas and jonas to score goals that we need

it's noteworthy that uefa upheld paco's absolutely bullshit suspension, which he got off a yellow card for an "incident" where the sevilla keeper threw himself on the ground for no reason... apparently it's not enough to give them blatant offside goals, they need the opposition best player suspended randomly too

Juventus with fantastic pre-match choreography and noise.

Chat pls   

sevilla have officially broken the world record by time wasting 32 seconds into the game

words cannot explain how much i can't *bleep* stand this team

che wrote:sevilla have officially broken the world record by time wasting 32 seconds into the game

words cannot explain how much i can't *bleep* stand this team

100% agreed.

The hatred I have for this team..... everything about them........

I hate this team.

Funny, cause Sevilla is the only team down south in Andalusia that I can stomach.

Quite like them actually.

Great save from a fierce Pirlo shot.

poverty mods not opening chat for the biggest games of the week...

che wrote:poverty mods not opening chat for the biggest games of the week...

Oh Che, get used to the fact that the Europa League will be forever ostracised in the confines of GoalLegacy.

Which is why I had to create this poverty thread and slap on my super corny OP to harbour EL talks.

Benfica look calm and in control, they are not showing any fear atm.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL FEG *bleep* YESSSSSS

Huge goal for Valencia. Game on in the Mestalla.