Judgement day
Cornered Real face upbeat Juve in semifinals
Madrid, May 12: Real Madrid must overcome a 1-2 first-leg deficit to keep their season alive when a Juventus side boosted by the return of Paul Pogba visit the Santiago Bernabeu in the return of their Champions League semifinal on Wednesday.
Los Blancos’ La Liga title hopes are all but over despite coming from 0-2 down to draw 2-2 with Valencia on Saturday as Barcelona moved four points clear at the top with just two games remaining.
However, Carlo Ancelotti’s men recovered from exactly the same result against Valencia that proved an almost fatal blow to their title hopes at the same stage last season to go on and win the club’s 10th European Cup in Lisbon a few weeks later.
Defensive lapses have cost Madrid in recent weeks as they have conceded twice in four of their last five matches and right-back Dani Carvajal insists they can’t go for a clinical Juventus side from the off and risk being caught on the counter-attack.
“We need to win, that is fundamental. However, above all, we need to have a cool head, be patient and not go crazy,” he told the club’s website.
“The game is 90 minutes long and we need to make that seem like a long time for Juventus and make them suffer without the ball.”
Carvajal gave away the penalty, converted by Carlos Tevez, at the end of a counter-attack which gave the Italian champions the advantage in last week’s first leg.
Madrid could be back close to full strength as Toni Kroos is expected to shrug off a hip injury picked up against Valencia, while Karim Benzema is set to feature up front after a month out with a knee problem.
Benzema’s French international teammate Pogba is certain to play a part after making a goalscoring return from a near twomonth injury layoff in a 1-1 draw at home to Cagliari on Saturday.
Juventus have waited 12 years to get back to the biggest game in European football, when they also beat Real in the semifinals in 2003.
Juventus’ biggest threat could come from a very familiar source for the Madrid faithful as Real academy product Alvaro Morata returns to the Bernabeu after scoring the opener in the first leg.
The Spanish international joined them last summer and could still return to his boyhood club should they exercise a buy-back clause by season-end.
Holders Real Madrid have an uphill battle against Italian champions Juventus as they need to overcome a 1-2 deficit in the second leg of the Champions League semifinals