Full-time: Juve 2-1 Monaco (agg: 4-1)
Juventus march into the Champions League final. They’ll be miffed that they conceded a goal for the first time in this season’s knockout stages but that was a rare blemish on a commanding performance. They are a proper team, formidable throughout. Superbly organised and unendingly canny, they are also very sharp and lavishly talented.
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90 min: Pjanic’s freekick hits the top of the wall and goes out for a corner.
89 min: Alves tripped on the edge of the Monaco box by Moutinho. A chance for Juve to add one last goal?
87 min: Cuadrado spanks over a cross from the right. Higuain runs on to it ... and get his header all wonky-wise. He really should have scored or at least got the ball somewhere near the goal.
85 min: Barzagli goes down complaining of cramp. Mbappe comes over to help him stretch his leg, earning applause from the home crowd. An 18-year-old goalscoring genius and a gentleman.
83 min: Freekick to Juve near Monaco’s corner flag on the left. Surprisingly, they send it into the area rather than take it into the corner and run down the remaining seven minutes. The cross is put behind for a corner. So it worked out well in the end.
81 min: Monaco, to their credit, are doing their utmost to continue scoring. But Juve are expertly organised and are keeping them at arm’s length. Moutinho resorts to a shot from 25 yards, with predictable consequences.
Monaco substitution: Germain on, Bakayoko off.
79 min: Juve are slowing the game down now, intent on killing Monaco’s new hope.
77 min: Fabinho doesn’t catch a shot right after wriggling spending all his energy wriggling away from two defenders. His shot from the edge of the area trickles wde.
75 min: After some treatment - and a talking-to from Juventus staff, who perhaps advised him not to try to seek revenge against Glik and risk missing the final - Higuain returns to the action.
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73 min: The replay shows that Higuain had good reason to clutch his knee: Glik trod on it, accidentally or otherwise. Bonucci is booked for protesting too vigorously.
72 min: Monaco attack, as Higuain writhes on the ground at the other end, clutching his knee as if seriously injured. The ref doesn’t buy it, the fans are furious and, when Monaco’s move breaks down, Juve players begin jostling with their opponents. Its a contest again!
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GOAL! Juve 2-1 Monaco (agg: 4-1) (Mbappe 69)
Moutinho plays a one-two on the left and then scurries along the byline and pokes the ball hard across the face of goal. Mbappe makes a dart to get to it first and turns it into the net from close range! He hurries to retrieve the ball from the left and get the game restarted asap. Is an incredible comeback really on? Eitherway, it was a nice goal.
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67 min: Monaco get their wits back! Mbappe is played through on the left-hand side of the box. But he slightly scuffs his shot, allowing Buffon to get down and turn the ball behind for a corner.
65 min: Monaco have the ball. They’re at a loss about what to do with it. Juve have melted their minds. “Juventus do not just win games, they make the opposition look ridiculously unprepared!” parps Ravi Teja, and he’s right.
63 min: Alves cross from the right. Manduzkic leaps to head it at goal but doesn’t make a firm connection and the ball drops wide. The ref awards a corner - until Mandzukic admits that he got the last touch and the overturns his decision. You know you’re beaten when Juve start behaving like that. By the way, do they still give green cards for good sportsmanship in Serie B?
62 min: A flicker of resistance from Monaco! They pick their way forward nicely before Silva tries to land the ball on Falcao’s head with a cross from the right. He slightly misjudges it, and Falcao can’t reach it at the back post.
60 min: Thirty minutes to go. I’m sure I’ve seen a couple of Monaco players marking the minutes off like prisoners crossing out lines on a wall.
57 min: The home fans are loudly running through their repertoire of chants, as, down on the pitch, their players continue to dance around the visitors. It’s not a contest any more.
55 min: Pjanic slides a pass through to Cuadrado, who has a chance to score within seconds of coming on. But apparently he hasn’t quite got up to the speed of the game, as he merely jogged into the box, allowing Raggi to get back and make a block on his shot.
Monaco substitution: Fabinho on, Mendy off.
Juve substitution: Cuadrado on, Dybala off.
53 min: Mendy booked for whacking the ball away in frustration after a freekick is awarded against Monaco.
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52 min: It’s tempting to say that Juve are engaging in a spot of showboating but here’s the thing: even when they flourish their tricks, there’s a deadly efficiency to them. The flicks and feints all serve a purpose: to move Juve forward quickly and deepen Monaco’s sense of inadequacy.
50 min: Moutinho has a pop from 20 yards. It doesn’t trouble the hosts.
48 min: Sidibe curls a high cross from the right over the last Juve defence. It’s aimed at Falcao, who had peeled away from Chiellini. But it’s slightly too long. An ambitious move, all the same, and a sign that Monaco haven’t completely given up hope of troubling their hosts.
46 min: No substitutions were made during the interval. And the second half beings at an almost leisurely pace. Alves is still too fast for Jemerson, mind, and the defender is penalised for stomping on Alves’ foot as he nicked the ball away.
Half-time: Juve 2-0 Monaco (agg: 4-0)
Juve are in complete control, a class above Monaco and most other teams in the tournament. They’re on their way to Cardiff and Real (or Atletico) are going to have to excel to stop them returning home with the trophy. Monaco, meanwhile, have a chance to secure the French title this weekend and they might feel like turning their thoughts towards that already. Thing is, if they do, they could be on the end of a right hiding here.
Juve 2-0 Monaco (agg: 4-0) (Alves 44)
Howzzaaat! Subsaic punches a corner clear. Or rather, he thinks he does. But Alves watches the ball fall from the sky and then wallops it back past the keeper on the volley from 23 yards!
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43 min: Alves - brilliant again - artfully plays in Dybala, who brings yet another fine save from Subasic.
41 min: Mendy, who hasn’t looked fully fit all night, produces a moment of brilliance down the left. He tricks his way past Alves and then lashes a brilliant pass across the face of goal. Mbappe, arriving at the far post, will certainly tap into the net if the ball reaches him - but Chiellini appears from nowhere and scoops it out for a corner! That required a contortionist’s dexterity, as thumping the ball into his own net seemed more likely once he got to it.
38 min: It’s turning into a painful lesson for Monaco. Juve are better organised and stronger, sharper, cuter and more cutting. It’s very hard to see Monaco turning this around. As it to compound their torment, Falcao gets a booking for slipping and unintentionally taking out Chiellini.
36 min: Mandzukic turns creation from deep inside his own half, sending a long pass downfield. Higuain ends up with yet another shooting chance, forcing a good save from Subasic with a shot from the edge of the box.
35 min: Juve play their way through Monaco again before presenting Higuain with a chance to inflict more damage. Fortunately for the visitors, the striker strayed offside.
GOAL! Juve 1-0 Monaco (Mandzukic 32)
It’s another deadly counter-attack by Juve! After a Monaco corner came to nought, Buffon threw the ball out to launch a counter. Sandro made a bundle of ground down the left before Alves clipped over a splendid cross for Mandzukic. Subasic made a good save from the striker’s downward header from six yards, but the ball rebounded to Mandzukic, who shot into the roof of the net from close range.
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32 min: Silva delivers an outswinging corner from the left. Bakayoko gets a header to it on the run but the ball clatters into a defender and rebounds out.
30 min: Chiellini takes out Sidibe as Monaco try to muster a response. Call it experience or call it brazen destruction of the game, it’s effective.
27 min: Pjanic strides through the middle, exchanges passes with Dybala and finds himself in the Monaco box with a clear shot at goal! He opens fire but Raggi hurls himself in front of it like a devout bodyguard and deflects the ball away. Then Raggi jumps up and berates his team-mates, demanding that Juve not be allowed through like that again. But it’s not easy to stop them when they’re in this groove.
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25 min: That’s lovely football by Juve! With exquisite technique and directness, they played their way through Monaco with nary a superfluous touch. Higuain collected the ball at the edge of the area and snuck a lovely disguised pass through to Mandzukic, who tries to poke it past Subasic from 24 yards. But the keeper makes a tremendous save with one hand, low to his left!
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23 min: What a chance for Juventus! Monaco fails to deal with a ball forward and Higuain galumphs on to it and finds himself face-to-face with the keeper. The striker goes for the dink. It fools Subasic but is not struck hard to enough to reach the goal before the backtracking Glik wellies it clear.
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21 min: Juve get a chance to mount a quick raid after dispossessing Monaco on half-way. They work it to the edge of the French box but then Dybala gets in a muddle and eventually coughs the ball back to Monaco. Then Monaco lash forward and Silva has an opportunity to put Falcao through .... but mislays a simple pass! Frustration disfigures him.
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19 min: Bakayoko, with Juve players converging on him near his own box, clears the danger with a dainty drag-back and flick to Jemerson. Pressure? He blows kisses at it.
17 min: Mbappe turns beautifully passed Barzagli, who catches him slightly with a trailing leg. The youngsters carries on but Dani Alves slides in to dispossess him. The ref gives Monaco a freekick on half-way for the earlier foul; while Alves gives Mbappe a look that seems to suggest the the forward can expect more robust treatment if he tries to get his skates on again.
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15 min: After Monaco’s perky start, Juve have wrestled back the initiative and are imposing the rhytmn they want.
12 min: Mandzukic beats two defenders to a long pass and heads it back into the path of Dybala. Shades of the mighty Niall Quinn there from the Croat, but Sididbe has seen the old footage and knew what was coming. He gets to the ball before Dybala did.
10 min: Monaco’s plans were spannered in the warm-up, now Juve have to adjust their works: Khedira has pulled up lame. The solution is obvious: Marchisio is introduced, as in the first leg.
8 min: Juve break forward for the first time thanks to some tidy interplay in midfield. Monaco start to backpedal frantically for the first time in the game. But Khedira overhits an attempted through-ball to Mandzukic, and Raggi shepherds the ball out of play. Do any other sports people ‘shepherd’ things in a game?
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6 min: Falcao has a blast from 25 yards. It flies a couple of yards over the bar.
4 min: Monaco’s start very nearly gets better! Moutinho has a shot from the edge of the area and it’s deflected up into the air. It drops to Mbappe, who tries to beat Buffon from an acute angle - and he succeeds, only for the ball to bounce out off the far post! The youngsters clasps his head in frustration, and then realises that the assistant referee had his flag up for offside, so the goal wouldn’t have counted anyway. Encouragement, nonetheless, for Monaco, who are making Juve look sluggish at the moment.
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3 min: Monaco have made an enterprising start. Their formation, if you’re interested, is a back three, with Mendy as left wing-back.
1 min: Mbappe wins a corner after 32 seconds, his cross from the left being turned behind. Moutinho trots over to take it short. He gets it back and then fires over a decent cross towards the far post. Buffon makes an uncharacteristic mess of it, missing it entirely. It drops wide of the back post but that’s a promising start for Monaco, all the same.
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Jardim has had to make a late change to his plan: Dirar suffered an injury in the warm-up, so Mendy has been given a start instead.
Juventus fans hold up pieces of shiny paper that, when put together, create a mosaic reading “Time for Cardiff”. Getting a bit ahead of themselves there.
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The teams are in situ. Juventus are wearing their classic garb, black-and-white stripes with white shorts and socks. Monaco are in their all black away kit, thwarting any plan the referee had of wearing his own traditional outfit. He goes for a red number instead.
Teams
Two things jump out from the lineups: 1) Juve are even stronger this week than in the first leg, thanks to the return from suspension of Khedira; and 2) Monaco are quite different. With Benjamin Mendy still only fit enough for the bench, Leonado Jardim may have decided to switch to a back three. Or it may be a 4-4-2 with the little-used (this season) 32-year-old Andrea Raggi as a full-back rather than a central defender. That seems less likely, especially with Moutinho having been included instead of Lemar, but it’s hard to be sure at this point. And dropping Fabinho seems odd. What’s certain is Monaco are taking a risk as they try to make history. And that augurs well for the show. It’s on!
Juventus: Buffon; Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini; Alves, Khedira, Pjanic, Alex Sandro; Dybala, Mandzukic; Higuain.
Subs: Neto, Lichtsteiner, Benatia, Asamoah, Marchisio, Rincon, Cuadrado
Monaco: Subasic; Glik, Jemerson, Raggi; Sidibé, Moutinho Bakayoko, Silva, Mendy; Mbappé, Falcao
Subs: De Sanctis, Fabinho, Mendy, Diallo, Lemar, Germain, Carrillo
Referee: B Kuipers (Ned)
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Preamble
Hello and welcome, especially to the fools and sadists. If you’re the former, you probably believe that this tie is still wide open and Monaco can overturn their 2-0 home defeat and advance triumphantly to the Champions League final. You are not discouraged by the way Monaco were schooled in the first leg by Juve’s wily defenders and dextrous attackers, nor by the fact that no French team has ever won away to Juve and no one has even managed to score against them in the Champions League since the group stages, Juve’s six successive clean sheets in the knockout rounds being a record. You sense, by contrast, that this swashbuckling young Monaco troupe are the very men to explode Juve’s invincibility and consign Giorgio Chiellini, Leonado Bonucci and Gianluigi Buffon to the bin marked Has-Been. You are a beautiful blue-sky thinker and you really must forward your bank details so that I can make a large deposit in your account.
It’s true that a French team has already been involved in a spectacular comeback this season, albeit unwillingly. But the fact is that a Monaco success today would be even more remarkable than Barcelona’s victory over Paris Saint-Germain earlier in the tournament, even if Barça had to come from four goals down rather than just two. Because Juve are better than PSG, far more solid and canny. The Italians will not be tactically dumb under Max Allegri and their players will never be overawed. Then again, everyone has off days. And even if Monaco do manage to score a couple, they are unlikely to stop Juve from netting at the other end. Chances are they’ll need to score at least four goals to progress. If that happens, this’ll be a match for the ages and we’ll all be thrilled we tuned in. Unless the win is the work of divers and bungling officials.
But the chances are that this is going to be one for the sadists, the sort of people who like watching men bash their heads against a black-and-white wall for 90 minutes. But - but - football has a habit of making fools of us all so, when all is said and done, it’s up for grabs now.
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