Carlo Ancelotti will have his second attempt against his compatriot Massimiliano Allegri, when in Wednesday evening “Estadio Santiago Bernabéu” will be arena of the Champions League semifinal‘s second leg, where the 10 time winners and defending champions from Real Madrid will have to defend their trophy from “The Old Lady” from Turin. The clash between Real Madrid and Juventus is one from the most common meetings in the Champions League (after the games between Real Madrid and Bayern München, and Barcelona-AC Milan) and the first leg in Turin was match number 17 between both clubs. Their head-to-head balance became absolutely equal after the first leg in Turin – 8 wins for each side and 1 draw. Surely “I Bianconeri” can be very happy from their first round result as the Italian champions were dominating in most of the time, while “Los Blancos” have lost their opportunity to make the crucial hit, in a moment when Real was playing better, especially after Ronaldo’s goal.
Both teams will come after a draws in their domestic leagues, where in Saturday evening both teams took part in their competitions, where Juventus already retained its trophy, while it seems that Real Madrid will have to wait one more season for winning the La Liga trophy for the first time since 2011. “Los Blancos” had a home clash against another from the strong “La Liga” sides, when Valencia took an early lead at “Estadio Santiago Bernabéu”, where “Los Che” was leading with 2:0 in the 26th minute and the first half ended in an awful way for the hosts from Madrid, when the Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty in the additional time of the first half. However, Real Madrid managed to recover in the second half, but the draw was not enough and Real Madrid certainly can regret for the missed opportunities, which secured a four point lead for their rivals Barcelona, which almost sure will secure the Primera Division trophy of “Barca”. Another thing that made horrible impression and added extra pressure in the hosts from Madrid was the behaviour of Real’s supporters, who have boo-ed for big part of the game the team captain Iker Casillas, despite his long and successful service at “Santiago Bernabéu”. This surely speaks for the bad atmosphere in the club and we believe that this will surely cost the managerial position of Carlo Ancelotti if he losses in the Champions League, and in La Liga as well, in a short period like the current – only five days.
Juventus also had a disappointing result but we’re quite sure that nobody cares about the 1:1 draw against the struggling team of Cagliari, but “The Old Lady” kept her power for the upcoming trip to the Spanish capital. Something absolutely normal when you’ve become a champion already, and you have massive game after only few days. Massimiliano Allegri made 10 rotations in his starting squads for the last Serie A round, than in the past Champions League effort, as Claudio Marchisio was the only players, who took part in both matches. However the game was marked by something really positive despite the draw – Paul Pogba has returned in Juventus’ squad for the first time since the 0:3 victory in Dortmund, after a period from almost 2 months of injury treatment. The Frenchman even marked his return with a goal as Pogba’s goal surely speaks that the French player is eager to return for “The Old Lady” in the most prestigious UEFA club competition. This adds one more great option for Allegri, who can’t count only to the injured Martín Cáceres and Kwadwo Asamoah now, but we already saw that Allegri has great options and the right players to change the formation of his team, when it’s necessary, like in the first leg, when Juventus switched from 4-3-1-2 to 3-5-2 after the substitution of Stefano Sturaro with Andrea Barzagli.
Final conclusion, betting pick and possible starting squads of Real Madrid and Juventus – UEFA Champions League semifinal – 13.05.2015
Carlo Ancelotti and his technical stuff, mainly in the face of Fernando Hierro and Paul Clement, must return the spirit of the team after the bad result against “Los Che”, but the bad news for “Los Blancos” are that Luka Modrić and Karim Benzema are still out from the contention for the positions, respectively in Real’s midfield, and in the attack, and these two are from the most valuable players of “Los Merengues”.
Massimiliano Allegri will be happy from Pogba’s return and the Italian manager of “The Old Lady” will be keen for leaving his name in the Champions League hall of fame, as the 47 years old Italian already won the Italian Serie A twice, with the teams of AC Milan, and with Juventus this year. His opponent Carlo Ancelotti already lifted the Champions League trophy for three times, and the first of them was exactly when his former club AC Milan won against another from his former clubs – Juventus… after a dramatical penalty shootout in season 2002-2003, when the final was hosted at “Old Trafford” in Manchester. Ancelotti won the trophy in 2007 and last season as well, but we believe that the “curse” over the reigning champions in the UCL will continue, and Real Madrid can be knocked in the semifinals. Our bet here is for “Juventus To Qualify” – medium stakes. We believe that “The Old Lady” can return at the top of the European football for first time after the famous “Calciopoli” scandal in 2006, but for sure we’ll have one very intriguing Champions League final, involving the winners of the clash between Bayern Munich and Barcelona, and from this game, which in our opinion (from our bets) means that we will have final in Berlin between the clubs of Barcelona and Juventus.
Possible starting squads:
Real Madrid: Casillas – Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo – James, Kroos, Isco – Ronaldo, Chicharito, Bale. (4-3-3)
Juventus: Buffon – Evra, Chiellini, Bonucci, Lichtsteiner – Pirlo, Sturaro, Marchisio – Vidal – Morata, Tevez. (4-3-1-2)
Referee: TBA