UCL QF: Juventus vs Real Madrid

Luca wrote:Negative Culture

After a heavy defeat like Tuesday’s, Juve can fault everything from preparation, skill and player availability to more abstract concepts like economics, mental strength and belief. But behind their struggles is something more complicated and much deadlier: a sort of cultural complacency that allows them to rest on their domestic achievements while downplaying or outright excusing their high-profile failures.

We’ve seen or felt this negative emphasis all year long, and it has to end. It’s one thing to fight an exterior menace like the effects of Calciopoli, quite another to combat a self-generated bogeyman (see: English national team, penalties).

In Juve’s Netflix series, it is clearly stated that the Champions League is the primary target this season; the show’s very existence speaks to Juve’s global ambitions. But you would never get that feeling from all the noncommittal sound bites Juve’s players and coaches have given on a week-to-week, even season-to-season basis.

For every well-deserved statement of pride in Juve’s Scudetto streak, there’s been one lowering expectations when it comes to the Champions League. As soon as president Andrea Agnelli or director general Giuseppe Marotta announce their bold objective of winning the big prize in August, the same duo start hedging their bets by walking back the competition’s importance.

Coach Max Allegri and his players seem to have been conditioned to do the same. At a pregame presser, Allegri and whoever is sitting next to him will always downplay the importance of the competition, claiming that Serie A is an equal priority. They’ll also mention that clubs like Real Madrid or Barcelona are significantly superior in quality.

That may be true on most days — but what good does it do to repeat it like a mantra? Juve let that negative perception hang in the air around the players and organization year after year, and it has a cumulatively devastating psychological effect. It’s becoming a perpetual, death-and-taxes sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.

After Tuesday’s game, Gigi Buffon, one of the few truly world-class players on this current Juve squad and its beloved captain, claimed that Real Madrid are “objectively stronger,” despite the fact that the first two (and most damaging) goals were more the result of errors than Real’s superior quality. Even Cristiano Ronaldo’s fantastic bicycle kick was the end result of a glaring defensive gaffe.

When Buffon, who knows what it takes to win on the biggest of stages, makes a statement like that, what effect does that have on his teammates? It can’t be positive. Likewise, when Allegri says that he can’t “reproach” his squad for their performance, it not only avoids confronting problems but resigns the squad to a sort of noble failure — and conditions them to expect more of it.

Even in the two seasons in which Juve made it to the final, the game itself was treated as almost a foregone conclusion — an inevitable loss. Especially in Cardiff, the team’s demeanor reeked of “it’s nice just to be nominated,” despite the fact that for the bulk of both finals, Juve were capable of winning and had previously beaten either Real Madrid or Barcelona over 180 minutes to get to the final itself.

As people who have been nominated will you tell you, the game changes with the nomination. It was nice to be nominated, but now it would be really nice to win. Your expectations rise as you do.

Juve are definitely rising in the footballing world. Someone should let them know.

https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com/2018/4/6/17203962/juventus-max-allegri-2018-serie-a-champions-league

Mr Nick09 wrote:After what I saw tonight I still believe juve are favorite

If Cristiano Ronaldo gets on the scoresheet against Juventus tonight, he will set a new record for most goals scored against a single club in the UEFA Champions League. #UCL pic.twitter.com/zrCgIA5bpu

— SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) April 11, 2018

Juventus XI: Buffon; De Sciglio, Benatia, Chiellini, Alex Sandro; Khedira, Pjanic, Matuidi; D. Costa, Higuain, Mandzukic

Subs: Szczesny, Lichtsteiner, Rugani, Asamoah, Marchisio, Sturaro, Cuadrado#TOGETHER #RMJuve #UCL

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) April 11, 2018

rincon wrote:This looks like a classic 1-5