Sergey Shevchenko - about the problems of the Turin grandee.
Juventus' big defeat in the Champions League quarter-finals is an event so loud that it's better not to write about him in hot pursuit, and a little later, when emotions are settled. Too significant was the contrast between the formidable and undefeated Juve from the Italian championship and the team that actually lost in the quarter-finals to the third minute of the first match, and then struck with its helplessness. This is not the case when it is appropriate to talk about refereeing or luck. Real Madrid was simply stronger. What's wrong with Juventus?.
To begin with, we note that globally with the Turin club everything is "so". Juventus, being in a critical situation because of Kalchopoli, gradually restored the lost. To date, it is the hegemon of Italian football, which has regular profits and adoration of millions of fans. Two recent achievements in the finals of the Champions League - already an excellent achievement, which is not at all an obligatory program. Obvious similarity of the scenarios-2015 and 2017: during the playoffs, "bianconeri" managed to catch one of the Spanish grandees (who was not in the best condition), but in the finals they were waiting for the second, and here the chances were reduced to a minimum. Now Juve is not lucky to please the accelerated Real Madrid already in the quarter finals.
Matches against Real - the current one and the finale of a year ago - have outlined a certain ceiling. Juventus can pass on the class of sensational Monaco or show wonders of calculation in the fight against Tottenham, but now felt impotence. As if the armies from different epochs met: Allegri built ranks of pikemen, contemplated cavalry attacks and planned targets for mortars, but in all this splendor they jumped on the system of volley fire CR7. Why is Juventus so behind the true top clubs?.
Championship Serie A this week came under the distribution. How - total 1: 7 from the Spaniards. Immediately started talking that the Italian championship is not the same and allegedly does not fall into the top three. In fairness, the Bundesliga this year is definitely weaker, as evidenced by the results of the teams in European competition, but the Premier League and, especially, La Liga, long ago ran ahead.
Italy lacks both money and (alas!) The ability to educate talents. Serie A froze in the semi-position. Clubs with Boots can not, like Liverpool with Arsenal, lay out 78 million euros for van Dyck or 64 for Obamaimeyang. Moreover, in England, even middle peasants with outsiders can easily spend a dozen or two million, for Italians, it's the costs of the level of teams like Lazio. Not sufficiently developed and Spanish (not real-barcelona) option, when the money is earned by selling and reselling players. At the moment, Italian clubs use different approaches: how to attract investors (Milan, Inter), and the activation of work in the transfer market (Roma). There is some progress, but patience is needed..
What does this have to do with Juventus? Stars of the first magnitude do not want to go to the current Serie A. Now is not 1997, when Ronaldo was coming from Barcelona to the promotion in Inter Milan. In turn, talented players need more competitive environment for progress. Example - Mohamed Salah. Juventus' ambitions can reach any heights, but the club is pulled down by 19 fellow compatriots. The same story as PSG and Bavaria. By the way, the Paris-oil attempts to level this factor with huge amounts of money look so ridiculous that it's better to gradually, but more organically, a la Juve.
Coach Ambiguous theme. Massimiliano Allegri made so much for Juventus that he earned a credit of trust. Of course, he also made mistakes, but it was Allegri who replaced the match with Tottenham with timely substitutions, and beat Maurizio Sarri in the championship (we can now almost confidently say it) at a long distance. Moreover, radically rebuilt the team in two years. Nevertheless, in the Italian media, information flashed through that the representatives of Juventus communicated with Carlo Ancelotti, who is still out of work.
The meaning is clear. An experienced mentor, famous for his victories in the Champions League, which became the idea-fix for Juve. Ancelotti's achievements are impressive, but in PSG and Bavaria - clubs, whose conditions are reminiscent of Juventus - he, by and large, did not achieve success. Real Madrid, as well as the old Milan, were strong players. Here, Don Carlo, and revealed as a craftsman to adjust the atmosphere in the locker room. Trophies seemed to come by themselves. The current Juventus passed to the finals thanks to tactical tricks, and it's far from the fact that Ancelotti will be more effective than Allegri.
Players Juventus came out against Real Madrid with midfield Khedira - Bentancourt, as well as with Asamoah and De Chillo at the base. Several personnel losses forced the use of players who did not pull the class to a team capable of defeating the Royal Club (for the sake of justice, Khedira was one of the best in the Turinians). Stock "Bianconeri" is only suitable for the championship, where Allegri arranges an exemplary rotation of the composition, in European competition, the Ferrari turns into a pumpkin.
What is much worse, the leaders of Juventus failed. Periodically, there is an illusion that Dibala will be able to grow to the level of the best players in the world, but then Paulo successfully dissipates it. Higuain and big matches - old sadness. Quietly, Chiellini, heroically dragged the game in London. A day later he was joined by De Rossi, another veteran who could not withstand the top speed. Sorry we're a bit about Roma.
How to level this gap in the class?.
Breeding Here we are getting to the area, which really needs to be adjusted, although it will take many years. The current selection of Juventus is based on two pillars. The first - "Bavaria-style", snatching the leaders of the teams-persecutors (Higuain, Pianic, to a lesser extent Bernardeski). The second - selection for top clubs (Khedira, Quadrado, Douglas Costa). The acquisition of experienced and fairly cool players allowed Juve to enter the championship and not fall below a certain level in European competition. For further progress, however, something more is needed.
Juventus, rising from the ruins, missed the most important direction - the productive work of the school. "Bianconeri" on the machine are perceived as the base club of the Italian team, but in reality this is not so. At the core of the team there are almost no Italians left, except for a few super veterans whose career is running out. If we talk about the pupils of Juventus, then their team at the moment will look something like this (version of SkySport):.
Mirante - Lirola, Sorensen, Maziello, Spinazzola - Iago Falke, Marrone, Marchisio - Keane, Immobile, Giovinco The mid-level team of the Serie A table. Add the ongoing recession of Marcisio and the fact that Immobile is a Neapolitan who, at a fairly mature age, was miraculously pulled from under Napoli's nose, and then managed to lose.
Historically, it so happened that Juve is not at all strong in pupils. Buffon, Chiellini, Del Piero, Conte, Inzaghi - they all started in other clubs and only then moved to Turin. Then the breeders of Italian grandees had an excellent choice, because the province raised wonderful football players.
Now, when all of Italy suffers from a talent shortage, and the available stars do not have the necessary charisma, who else but Juventus with its capabilities should set an example? Why does not the club-champion release players-champions? Real Madrid's power with Barcelona is based not only on finances, but also on La Fabrica with La Macia, who stamp a quality product - if not Xavi with Casillas, then Asencio or Sergi Roberto. In England, we already understood that you can not buy happiness for money, it is enough to look at the recent successes of English youth teams, both club and national teams. Juventus in the championship Primavery (players under 20 years) is only the eighth, and in the group of the Junior Champions took the last place, conceding not only Barcelona, ??but also Sporting with Olympiakos. Where is it good?.
Here at Juventus everything is fine. Tuttosport even writes that the Turin youth forgets about Torino, traditionally more popular in the capital of Piedmont, switching massively to successful "bianconeri". Allianz Stadium is perfectly filled (the average attendance of matches of the championship is 39,045), and it remains to be regretted that the club built only 40 thousand arena. Imagine how many were willing to visit the game with Real Madrid?.
By the way, the old-good Juve experienced problems with attendance. For example - the game at the Stadio Delle Alpi second group stage of the season-2001/02. Match with Bayer (victory 4: 0, Del Piero's goal, double Trezeguet) collected only 4926 spectators - this is not a typo, less than five thousand! On the zero with Deportivo came 9836, and the victory 1: 0 over the Arsenal Seen 7070 people. For a decade and a half Juventus has learned to look attractive. His home matches you want to include in advance to see the light show and not turn off right after the whistle to have time to enjoy the club anthem.
Fans of Juventus did not leave the defeated on Tuesday.
They showed generosity by making an ovation to Cristiano Ronaldo after his miracle-goal through himself in the fall (in Italian, such a blow is called "rovesciata"). Struck even the Portuguese himself. In November 2008, the audience of Santiago Bernabeu was applauded by Del Piero, but now there was a reciprocal gesture. Behavior worthy of the supporters of the great club. Amazing quality: Juventus remains an example, even if it loses with a large score.
Author: Sergey Shevchenko.