Juventus fancy toppling Barcelona
Serie A side’s key defender Bonucci feels Catalans are not as strong as they were during 2015 Champions League final
Leonard Bonucci says Juventus will be driven on by the desire to avenge their 2015 Champions League final defeat to Barcelona when they meet the Catalan giants in the quarterfinals.
Juve reached their first final since 2003 two seasons ago but their quest for a third title came up short as Barca eased to a 3-1 win in Berlin.
The two sides have not met in the competition since but will battle over two legs in the last eight in the coming weeks.
Bonucci feels Juve — who sit atop of Serie A — have gotten stronger since, while Barca may not have the quality they had in Luis Enrique’s first season in charge.
“I never watched back the final from 2015,” Bonucci said ahead of the first leg of the quarterfinal on Tuesday.
“It will be a different game this time around, because our defence has become even stronger. And Barcelona are perhaps not as strong as in 2015, even if they are still a great team.
“We have maybe lost a bit of physical strength in midfield compared to 2015 with the departure of Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba, but we have more quality.
“For Barcelona, Neymar has really made a step up, Javier Mascherano has gotten two years older in defence and Ivan Rakitic has matured in midfield.”
Barcelona, who won the last of their five European Cups with a victory over Juve in the 2015 final, are not in the best shape heading into the tie after a 2-0 loss at Malaga on Saturday seriously damaged their La Liga title hopes.
This is Barcelona’s 10th successive appearance in the quarterfinals, a record, but they are without the injured Rafinha and the suspended Sergio Busquets.
When asked if Barca’s latest domestic setback would impact the tie, Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri was dismissive.
“For me, it’s the same Barcelona. When you have players like Messi, Iniesta, (Luis) Suarez, and Neymar, you don’t mess up games very often,” Allegri told the Italian media.