Juventus wary of counter-attacking Dortmund, but confident: Chiellini
Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini is concerned about the counter-attacking threat of Borussia Dortmund, but believes the Italians’ Champions League ambitions will shine through in their last-16 clash in Turin on Tuesday.
Juventus underlined its status as Serie A champion in-waiting once again at the weekend after taking its lead over stuttering title challenger Roma to nine points.
Yet in Europe’s premier club competition, the two-time winner has yet to prove its worth: Juve crashed out at the group stages last season having been ousted by eventual champion Bayern Munich in the 2013 quarterfinals.
Juventus and Dortmund have some history in the competition: in 1997 the Germans famously beat the Italian side, then defending champion, 3-1 in Munich and the clubs met several times before then.
Juergen Klopp’s men are only now fighting their way back from a torrid start to the Bundesliga season, having secured a third consecutive win, away to VfB Stuttgart on Friday, to move further away from the relegation zone.
But while Chiellini warned of the threat posed by the Germans, he believes Juventus’s ambition to make the final stages of the competition will come to the fore.
“Dortmund have some good players, a few who played well at the start of the season are coming back from injury, but over two legs anything can happen,” Chiellini said to Rai television.
“We can’t afford to gift them opportunities to launch counter-attacks, because they have players who excel when you give them space — although that tactic can be very risky.
“At the start of the (German league) season, they conceded a lot of goals from open play.
“We have a lot of respect (for them) but we really want to win this game, progress and keep our European dream alive: we really feel stronger than in recent seasons.”
Dortmund may have flirted with the relegation zone earlier this season but the Germans — currently 12th at 30 points behind Bundesliga pacesetter Bayern Munich — can be unpredictable when it comes to highoctane European meetings.
As it struggled to keep pace on the domestic front, Klopp steered his men to the top of Champions League Group D, scoring 14 goals and conceding just one defeat.
Borussia has now scored 10 goals in its past three league wins but Juve is unbeaten at home all season and suffered its only defeat, away to Genoa, in October.
Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri, for one, is pleased at how his side is coming through a “key” stage of the season.
“This is a key period in the season but we’re coming through it nicely,” Allegri said after Friday’s 2-1 win over Atalanta, in which a trademark Andrea Pirlo free kick secured the points for the Turin giant.
“It’s satisfying to win these kind of games because it keeps your feet on the ground. For Tuesday’s game we’re in great form. I’m not worried about the Champions League, in fact we’re full of confidence.”
Allegri is expected to deploy a 4-3-1-2 formation with Pirlo flanked by Paul Pogba and Claudio Marchisio, with Arturo Vidal playing just behind a front pair composed of Carlos Tevez and either Fernando Llorente or Alvaro Morata.
Allegri had doubts over Vidal, who sat out Friday’s win over Atalanta because of a left hamstring niggle but the Chilean is now set to start having been put through his paces at the weekend.
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