The miracle didn’t happen; AS Monaco’s hopes for a “remontada à la Barcelona” were crashed after 33 minutes when Mario Mandzukic scored on behalf of the“Old Lady from Turin” after beating twice ASM’s goalkeeper Subatic, so lonely without his defenders. Jardin’s bet to surprise La Juve playing 3-4-1-2 backfired after only fifteen minutes; during that time they pressed high and won two chances to score( Mbappé, Falcao).  Afterwards the only thing that the Monegasques could do was to defend against the Italian tsunami, again and again and again…

Juventus counters, were deadly; Glik(22nd), Subatic(25th) and Raggi(28th) saves were just delaying the inevitable. Juve gave them “le coup de grace” at the end of the first half(45th),  thanks to a wonderful shot of MOTM Daniel Alves. The job was done !

The second half was more of a  football show; Juventus’ players excellent football was a lesson given to their young opponent, the youngest team of the Champions League. Mbappé’s late goal saved Monaco’s honour, but they shouldn’t have too many regrets; that “old lady” gave them the opportunity to understand that the talent is not enough, experience and hard work is the secret recipe to win important games.

Kylian’s Mbappé goal  (his sixth in nine CL games), put an end to Gigi’s Buffon 600 minutes of invincibility, but what a shame that Glik’s awful stampede on Higuain marred the Monegasques valiant fight!

Juventus now are looking forward to their Final in Cardiff; they already won CL twice, but the “Bianconeri” will do their best to offer their third one to their charismatic goalkeeper, cos this Cup is the only one that their captain hadn’t got…yet !

Here’s the players ratings:

JUVENTUS

Gianluigi Buffon(the Legend) 7,5/10  Andrea Barzagli 6,5/10  Leonardo Bonucci 7/10  Giorgio Chiellini 8/10  Dani Alves  MOTM 9,5/10 Sami Khedira n/a taken off after 10 m.  Miralem Pianic 6,5/10  Alex Sandro 6,5/10  Paolo Dybala 7/10 Mario Mandzukic 7/10 Conzalo Higuain 5,5/10

SUBS : Claudio Marchisio  6,5/10  Juan Quadrado 6/10 Mehdi Benatia n/a

AS MONACO

Danijel Subasic 7/10  Andrea Raggi 6,5/10  Kamil Glik 4,5/10  Jemerson 5,5/10  Djibril Sidibé 5,5/10 Tiemoué  Bacayoko 5,5/10  Joao Moutinho 6,5/10  Bernando Silva 7/10  Kyllian Mbappé 6/10 Radamel Falcao 5,5/10

SUBS :  Fabinho 6/10  Lemar 5,5/10  Germain 5/10

Here’s the game’s highlights :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRYRAzKBK-g

Categories: Analysis, Champions League, opinion, Review

Tags: AS Monaco, Champions League 2016/17, Juventus, Kylian Mbappé, Luigi Buffon