‘Absolutely terrible’ football but the Juventus winning machine goes on ahead of Champions League tie - Inside Europe
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Published 14/03/2022 at 13:09 GMT
Juventus are one of Europe’s most in-form sides, but it seems watching them is painful. Progression to the quarter-finals of the Champions League is on a knife edge, with their last-16 tie with Villarreal level at 1-1 ahead of the Spanish club’s trip to Turin. Eurosport Italy’s Simone Eterno their unbeaten run is impressive, but that their style of play is “terrible”.
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Juventus have only lost one match in their last 21 games - and that was only after conceding in the final moments of extra time during their Super Cup defeat to Inter Milan.
Their form makes them one of the best performing clubs in Europe at the moment but their hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals of the Champions League are in the balance, as their last-16 tie with Villarreal is locked at 1-1 ahead of Wednesday’s match in Turin.
But while the base statistics look good in terms of wins and draws, watching them is not proving to be much fun. That is despite being able to call on the talent of Dusan Vlahovic, Paulo Dybala and Manuel Locatelli.
We caught up with Eurosport’s Simone Eterno to gauge his opinion on what Massimiliano Allegri’s side are like to watch - and it is fair to say his take is one step short of like watching paint dry.
What sort of form are Juventus in going into the game?
If we talk about results - very, very good. Since November 30, they have played 21 official games in all competitions and only lost one, the Supercoppa Italiana, by conceding a late goal at Inter Milan in the last second of extra time. They won three games in a row in Serie A after the first leg against Villarreal - a very good run. But watching them isn’t so good…
Although they are unbeaten in quite some time, how have the overall performances been?
Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Massimiliano Allegri plays some very poor football. They beat Sampdoria on Saturday without a single shot on target. It's a kind of miracle: they scored twice, but the first was an own goal and the second a penalty.
I would say that's the perfect picture of Allegri's football idea: "First, not conceding, then we'll see". This philosophy produced a very good run in Serie A and it's the exact same thing that we saw in the Villarreal in the first leg, when Vlahovic scored after 30 seconds and Juve stopped playing football. The feeling is that in Europe you need something different, that you need something more than this.
What concerns will they have about Villarreal?
They’re probably more concerned about themselves than Villarreal. They have a lot of key players injured. Leonardo Bonucci won't play, Giorgio Chiellini might be in the squad but he's not played for a while. Paulo Dybala, the key up front, is a strong doubt as well.
How has Dusan Vlahovic settled in?
Smoothly. He did not feel the "jump" from playing in Fiorentina to playing for Juventus. He's proving to be worth the money and that he’s one of the top 3 "pure strikers" in Europe, alongside Erling Haaland and Victor Osimhen.
How far can Juve realistically go in the competition? Could it be a distraction in their chase for a top four spot?
We are talking about Juventus. The Champions League will never be a distraction, no matter what. They will always start this competition with the aim of winning it, even if they look terrible or play poor football. They will put every effort in to try to go into the quarter-finals, there is absolutely no doubt about it.
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