As anticipated difficult stadium for Real Madrid against a more intense & determined Juventus spurred on by their devoted fans. Real Madrid was not sharp at all tonight, being very sloppy & imprecise with their Football. The "Sergio Ramos midfield Experiment" was not successful at all with Ramos out of place & giving away too many balls.
Juventus won Real Madrid in the midfield with an intense Arturo Vidal working hard all night supported by team-mate Marchisio & cool as a cucumber Pirlo. Added to all this, a concentrated Juventus defence kept out the Spaniards, while the "dynamic duo" of Tevez & Morata unsettled the Real Madrid defence.
It was young Alvaro Morata who put Juventus ahead in the 9th min when goalie Casillas deflected a Tevez drive. Juventus culminated their intense & straight ramming opening Football with the goal prize. Real Madrid reacted & shook off the initial blows controlling the ball more while looking for the spaces. They too were rewarded in the 27th min when Cristiano Ronaldo headed a James Rodriguez looped pass from a great build up. Real Madrid created more chances thereafter but failed to convert their opportunities.
Things started better for Real Madrid in the 2º half with numerous occasions until a Marcelo shot close to the Juve goal rea rebounded off Kroos with the ball landing in the feet of the Juventus players which caught most of Real Madrid team outside their half.
The counterattack was meet with just two Real Madrid defenders beaten by pace & it ended with Carvajal fouling Tevez in the penalty area. The consequent next move was penalty & goal by Tevez in the 57th min.
With all the advantage now with the Italians they concentrated on preserving the result, forcing Real Madrid to attack & charging them again on the counter. The game turned itself into end-to-end Football with chances falling to both teams. Both Coaches made chances to freshen legs & ideas extending the action till the end.
Juventus could have scored a third towards the end but Casillas - up till then also under a cloud - managed to save his side from a Fernando Llorente header. An opportunity that if converted could have given Juventus more than half the ticket into the Berlin Final. In the end Real Madrid resisted, lost this 1º st battle but takes a valuable away goal for the return game in Madrid next week.
The semi-final tie is still wide open with Real Madrid having the chance to "fix things" next week. However, the team has to quickly solve some issues tactically & attitude wise. Marcelo will probably be replaced by Coentrao to boost the defensive discipline, while Sergio Ramos in the midfield is not a viable option as it does not work. The Real Madrid midfield has to improve a lot more & their passing has to be a lot better. What is certain is that its going to be a thriller with Juventus full of confidence & perhaps with Pogba back to boost the center. It is still all up in the air, congratulations to Juve for their excellent match.
Tomorrow the other Spanish Football representative FC Barcelona is on show against Bayern Munich in the other semi-final. Another top night of European Football.
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