Juve wary of Ronaldo the ‘assassin’
JUVENTUS
V REAL MADRID
Juventus winger Juan Cuadrado believes his team will treat tonight’s Champions League first leg against Real Madrid “like a final”.
“They’re a fantastic side but we need to focus on our own game: we’ll play as if it were a final,” Cuadrado said ahead of the quarter-final clash.
Juventus were beaten in their two previous Champions League finals against Real Madrid, in 1998 and last year in the 4-1 defeat in Cardiff, but between those two clashes they have won all three of their two-legged knockout matches against the Spanish giants.
“Let’s hope everything will be different [from Cardiff],” Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon said.
“We win the matches which last 180 minutes but lose those that last 90. Maybe we should play the finals over 180 minutes.”
Juventus are again in the hunt for a treble. They beat AC Milan 3-1 on Saturday to move four points clear of Napoli at the top of Serie A and are also in the Italian Cup final.
Juventus defender Mehdi Benatia and midfielder Miralem Pjanic are banned after being booked in the last16 victory over Tottenham.
All of the Madrid squad have travelled to Turin, although defender Nacho could miss out with a thigh injury.
Buffon is clear who he fears the most.
“I have endless admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo,” the goalkeeper said. “He’s managed to get better with time. He’s changed position, expending less energy than before but he’s really lethal.
“I have never seen anyone with the same assassin’s instinct as Ronaldo ... I had the fortune to play against the Brazilian Ronaldo, with and against (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic, but Cristiano Ronaldo is picking up record after record.”
Ronaldo has scored seven goals in the five matches he has played against Juventus and is in fine form this season. Pablo Sarabia insists Sevilla can harness underdog spirit to dump Bayern Munich out of the Champions League.
Sevilla host the German giants in the first leg of their quarter-final in Spain tonight, with midfielder Sarabia calling on the home side to push Bayern all the way.
Bayern are expected to welcome back Arturo Vidal and Juan Bernat for the Sevilla clash, after the pair sat out Saturday’s 6-0 thrashing of Borussia Dortmund.
Sarabia maintains Sevilla remain unfazed by Bayern’s potency, saying Vincenzo Montella’s side have the quality to reach the last four.
“You always dream of making it through one more round but we know how difficult this task is,” Sarabia said.
“We aren’t favourites and it won’t be easy to beat Bayern. But we have our strengths and qualities and if we make the most of them, well, that’s how we can go through.
“We learned so much about this competition last season. We played a terrific match against Leicester in our stadium but we weren’t capable of taking enough of our chances and putting the tie to bed.
“Over in Leicester, we didn’t know how to produce the performance we needed. We deserved to go through but they did instead and that was like an apprenticeship for us.”
Bayern’s former Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara will be back on familiar turf. And he has warned his team-mates to expect one of their toughest tests this year. Alcantara expects the local community to rally round, and hopes Bayern can cope.
“When a big Champions League tie comes along everyone ups their game,” Alcantara told Marca.
“Even the kit man shines your boots better and the guy in the local cafe bar makes his best sandwiches – but this is all particularly true of Sevilla.
“On big Uefa nights they are made of something different. They rise to the occasion and they’ve proved they are one of Europe’s great clubs.”