Attack vs Defence at the Stade Louis II

Champions League | Preview

03/05/17

Monaco, who have been the surprise package in the Champions League this season meet Juventus in the semi-final of the tournament. The first leg will be played in France, at the Stade Louis II Stadium on Wednesday night.

Both teams will be happy with the draw, having avoided Real Madrid and firmly believe they have what it takes to win this match.

Monaco started the season as complete outsiders to win the Champions League and are still regarded as being the least likely to win the tournament from the four remaining teams. However, the club from the principality have enjoyed a tremendous season and are competing for both the Champions League and Ligue 1 title.

Trends show Leonardo Jardim’s team have lost only one of their previous eight games in all competitions. The defeat was a heavy one at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain in the French Cup but Jardim rested his usual starting XI, giving a group of young players the opportunity to play against one of the top teams in France.

The move backfired in terms of the result but the regular starting XI returned on the weekend and defeated Toulouse 3-1 and this enabled Monaco to remain top of Ligue 1. Monaco have lost only three of their previous twenty-eight games in all competitions.

Juventus travel to France having moved one step closer to the Serie A title on the weekend, thanks to a 2-2 draw at Atalanta. With a 9-point cushion over second place Roma, Juventus have one hand on the trophy.

Trends show Juventus have lost just one of their previous twenty-two games in all competitions and come into this match in good form. Their 0-0 draw at Barcelona in the previous round of the Champions League shows how strong they are defensively and this will be key for the Italian champions against a rampant Monaco attack.

Indeed, this match will be won and lost depending on how well Juventus can defend against the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Radamel Falcao. Other than the recent cup defeat to PSG with a much-changed team, you must go back to December to find the last time Monaco failed to score a goal in a match.

Meanwhile, Juventus have kept five clean sheets in their last six matches in all competitions, including two in the Champions League against Barcelona.

The only major player missing for Monaco is right-back Djibril Sidibe, meaning Nabil Dirar should retain his place in the back four. Juventus will be without the suspended Sami Khedira, who will be a big miss but Claudio Marchisio is a great replacement for the German.

This is going to be an intriguing game of football. Monaco do not seem concerned about trying to keep a clean sheet and would rather score as many goals as possible. If Juventus can keep them at bay, they can hit them with their own talented forward players and could score a couple of away goals.

However, Monaco are free-flowing in attack and even the Juventus backline will struggle to stop them from creating chances. This match is going to be close in terms of the scoreline but we could see plenty of goals.