Wednesday, May 6, 2015
When the draw was made for the semifinals of this year's UEFA Champions League, most observers agreed that there was only one given. While the Barcelona-Bayern Munich matchup was far too close to call, Real Madrid would beat Juventus.
This wasn't the Juve of yore, after all, following a 12-year absence from this stage in the tournament, during which it was relegated in the Calciopoli scandal. This was a team that was fortunate to have made it this far, considering the decay of the Italian league – or so the consensus went.
But on the evidence of Tuesday's first leg in Turin, all of that was rather premature. Juve claimed a cunning 2-1 win against the defending champions, courtesy of goals by Alvaro Morata and Carlos Tevez, which negated Cristiano Ronaldo's record-setting 76th goal in this competition.
Juventus might have been expected to take a cautious approach, taking the temperature of this tie well before it would venture out on anything resembling an attack. Instead, Juve pressed high, disrupted Real's rhythm early and lurked on the counterattack, preying on its opponents' distaste for hustling back on defense.
But on the evidence of Tuesday's first leg in Turin, all of that was rather premature. Juve claimed a cunning 2-1 win against the defending champions, courtesy of goals by Alvaro Morata and Carlos Tevez, which negated Cristiano Ronaldo's record-setting 76th goal in this competition.
Juventus might have been expected to take a cautious approach, taking the temperature of this tie well before it would venture out on anything resembling an attack. Instead, Juve pressed high, disrupted Real's rhythm early and lurked on the counterattack, preying on its opponents' distaste for hustling back on defense.
