At first glance, Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player that he must save in this Juventus, which was eliminated by Lyon in the champions League. Fort of his two goals, he surnagé within a team without inspiration and without the true identity of the game. If the Italian club has said "arrivederci" to his coach – replaced by the legend Andrea Pirlo, who we wish the best of luck – not everything will work out anytime soon. As long as CR7 will be the tree that hides the forest.
By spending 100 million euros two years ago to engage the services of the Portuguese (at the age of 33 !), Juventus has relied on a phenomenal player (best scorer of the history of the champions League), but forgot that a team is not a sum of individualities, even with the best of them all. What has struck during the 180 minutes of OL-Juventus (February and August), it is the absence of collective power, normally in the DNA of the Italian teams. Friday, the tactic of Turin is summarized to look for CR7, give the ball to CR7, get free kicks for CR7. Pjanic and Betancur have been ghostly. By charity, we will not consider here the performance of Higuain. On 16 shots, tempted by the Italian club, 10 were the work of Cristiano Ronaldo. Instead of freeing his partner, he cannibalizes.
Where are the seconds knives ?
Even in the time of Michel Platini (1982-1987), Zinédine Zidane (1996-2001) or Andrea Pirlo (2011-2015), Juventus was balanced with the "second knives" sharpened : Tardelli, Boniek, Rossi ; Zambrotta, Davids, Del Piero ; Bonucci, Pogba, Morata. In this Juventus-there is nothing like it. The officers, some to keep their nugget – admittedly five-times Ballon d'or – have forgotten to create a team. As for the game project, it is almost against the order of nature. Since the advent of the FC Barcelona of Guardiola, ball possession and domination have become the alpha and the omega of football. Ciao, the Catenaccio, which, however, has been proven to work. Result : we saw for 90 minutes – the same as for the Napoli eliminated by FC Barcelona the following day – a game stereotyped, based on the workaround or the game back. Not surprising the opponent.
not to mention the absence of a base sauce, Italian to bind the team. There are yet five years, the defence of Juventus was the team of Italy (Buffon, Barzagli, Chiellini, Bonucci). Friday night, against Lyon, there were only two players of the Squadra Azzurra (two Italians, in short) on the lawn. A loss of identity, which explains the huge counter-performance (that Lyon has been able to fully exploit). But should we be surprised ? When she changed her stage, the Juventus left the Stadio delle Alpi for Juventus Stadium (now Allianz Stadium). Football is also a history of a symbol...
