Juventus will travel to Germany and try to do the unthinkable by beating Bayern Munich and knocking them out of the Champions League.
After a 2-2 draw in Italy, the reigning Bundesliga champions are highly fancied to book a place in the last eight.
However, there’s plenty of quality in the Juventus ranks to suggest that they will make life difficult for their opponents and why an upset is a possibility.
Here are some of the key reasons why Juventus are capable of pulling off a shock:
Defensive solidity
Juventus have kept clean sheets in every single one of their past 10 league games – staggering form. Marshalled by Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli, the Italian powerhouse are one of the toughest teams to break down in world football. Despite the fact they were torn to shreds in the opening half of their first leg encounter, they will have learned a great deal about how to thwart their German opponents. Although they must score, Massimiliano Allegri will be happy to absorb pressure and focus heavily on keeping another clean sheet.
Counter-attacking ability
Two players who will relish the situation of playing on the counter-attack are Paulo Dybala and Juan Cuadrado. The pair have formed a great understanding in recent weeks, evident when they combined to great affect to create a world-class goal against Sassuolo – Dybala curling a 25-yard stunner into the top-right hand corner. When you add the intelligence of Paul Pogba and Claudio Marchisio, who will be chief creators, you begin to understand why Juventus can pose a serious threat to the Bayern rearguard.
Team morale
This is a Juventus side who have strong characters and a manager whose instilled an unwavering belief to defy the odds. Juventus won just one of the first six leagues, but since then have strung together 19 games unbeaten. The resolve in the side is undoubtable and the sheer manner in which they fought back to rescue a draw against Bayern, and keep the tie alive, is testament to their formidable mentality. They go to the Allianz Arena without any fear and that could work well in their favour.
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