There’s a sort of sweet, hanging scent in the air. You can see it when the light is right, a shaft of golden, hazy radiance, swirling around, dancing in the glimmer. This is the precursory giddiness to the greatest prize of all, the feverish anticipation of the final turn after months of heavyweight football slugfestery. The Champions League final is here. There is a strange disparity between the two finalists, even though they’re similar in many ways. Both have won the league title in their countries. Both are attempting to seal a famous treble. Both are grand, glittering national institutions. And yet, where Barcelona sauntered, smirking, into the final, arriving with an air almost implying that their place in the ultimate contest was wholly ensured, Juve snatched their place with a series of hard-fought, gripping, even unlikely victories. The 5-1 aggregate win over Borussia Dortmund in the Round of 16 made us all sit up straight and pay attention. Then came the difficult 1-0 aggregate victory over Monaco, perhaps the tournament’s most obdurate team. And, most recently, the stunning 3-2 triumph over the defending champions, Real Madrid, a true and magnificent brushing off of the cobwebs. The Old Lady is dolling up for Europe’s showpiece for the first time in more than a decade.
All dressed up and nowhere to go, it would seem, according to the bookmakers. Juve are, naturally, heavy underdogs, and Barcelona, with their frightening attacking trident, will be sure to ram that point home. So, looking through squinted eyes, a definite shape appears, or rather, two shapes. The Barca triumvirate, Messi, Neymar and Suarez, are three of the world’s best attackers all working together, feeding one another a constant diet of symbiotic foot-magic. The threat they pose is lethal, and they have mortally wounded just about every defence they’ve faced. Just ask Jerome Boateng. Their team, as good as the rest of it is, is defined by these three players. The shape is designed to sharpen these three points at the top, to blood their prey with a trio of stiletto blades, all scything through at once.
In contrast, the Juve team is very much one built from the inside out. Theirs is a side anchored to a robust pillar than runs the length of the team. Gigi Buffon, refined and stoic, in between the sticks. Then Leo Bonucci, a tower of strength at the back, with the ability to stride into the opposition half supplementing his traditional centre half play. Then the combination of the force of Paul Pogba and the culture of Andrea Pirlo, a double act of power and precision in midfield. And finally, the scurrying industry of Carlos Tevez, incessant and deadly. This base of this pillar has been weakened considerably by the recently confirmed absence of Giorgio Chiellini, victim to a severe calf injury that will keep him out of the final. But, in spite of this, a sturdy pillar it remains, one braided in sinewy muscle and lustrous locks.
It is this that will decide the match. Barcelona’s exalted attack will aim to pierce the Old Lady’s stony spine, and they will. Every team, even the Italian champions, cannot hope to keep all three of them out. Juve’s resilience will be tested, the pillar will lean horribly, even crack at times. But for them to survive it, a demonstration in organisation is required. Teams that try and trail Suarez, Messi and Neymar, hoping to snuff them all out at the source end up frazzled and frayed, leaving gaping holes that Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic can exploit. Even though the prettiest jewels in Catalonia’s crown are at the top, other lustrous gems are there, set in supporting roles. No, a systemic approach is advised here, a holistic defensive plan, a team-wide patrolling of the red zones. Arturo Vidal is a capable bulldog. Claudio Marchisio can also provide a stern injection of defensive-mindedness. They will have to be completely focused on their duties, and in tune with their defenders from start to finish.
Of course, as is customary against Messi and co, Juve will look to profit on the counter. Here the verticality and central strengths of their team will also help them. If their defence can absorb and repel, counter-attacking opportunities will be there. Physical, athletic teams that can transition the ball swiftly and devastatingly have decimated Barcelona over the past few seasons, and though this team is far harder to stifle, they remain vulnerable on the break. Iniesta and Rakitic are not particularly defensive-minded. Sergio Busquets, while a phenomenal positional player, is not very agile, or rugged. Vidal and the supreme Pogba will be able to surge straight through them if given the opportunity. And in Pirlo, Juve has a deep-lying playmaker of considerable poise and patience, a man capable of threading the eye of a needle at will. He can release his powerful midfield colleagues with a subtle flick of his foot. Further forward, a clinical striker is needed to take chances that may come infrequently, if at all. Carlos Tevez is that and more, an indefatigable terrier, whose mazy runs and constant pressing will disrupt the Barcelona defence.
Stay the course, brave the wind, and remain calm. A lot of things have to go right for Juve to win on Saturday. They have the team to beat Barcelona, but a superhuman, from every man, is required. Their team, and Italian column, stoic and determined, must resist the sharpest of Spanish tridents. To crumble will be to embrace defeat.
