It
was a cracker of a semi-final between Juventus and Real Madrid in the Champions League with the Italian
side edging out a victory against the reigning champions, but Madrid take back to the second leg an important away goal which could prove to be vital in this
semi-final. There were a few talking points in yesterday’s game and let’s take
a look at them.
1. Alvaro Morata scores against his old
Club: Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti mentioned that he had no regrets over
Madrid selling Morata and he came to rue over that decision, when in the 9th
minute Claudio Marchisio played across a defence splitting pass to Carlos Tevez
whose shot was pushed away by Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas which kindly feel
into the path of Morata who slotted the ball into an open goal from very close
range. As expected the former Madrid man did not celebrate but I’m sure inside he
would have been feeling ecstatic.
See all the stats for the next game: UEFA Champions League Semi-Finals 2014/2015
2. Cristiano Ronaldo’s 9th UCL goal
of this term: Towards the latter stages of the first half Real Madrid were
constantly pressing forward and were soon rewarded when James Rodriguez played
a wonderful lofted cross to an open Cristiano Ronaldo who slotted home a simple
header into an open goal from four yards out. If Real Madrid had any chances to
score in this game it would have to be the prolific Madrid star who has been in
blistering form this season.
3. James Rodriguez missed a golden
opportunity to put Real Madrid in the lead: After Real Madrid scored their
first goal through Ronaldo, the momentum seemed to swing in their favour and
they constantly keep threatening Juventus defence and in the closing stages of
the first Rodriguez had a similar Ronaldo like opportunity to give the
Spanish side the lead. An excellent cross from Isco which found James Rodriguez
but only for the Colombian instead of finding the back of the net hit the
woodwork from the same distance as Ronaldo’s header. He had an open goal facing
him and no defender was in his sight. The Colombian should have scored, that miss could prove to be costly in this semi-final.
4. Carvajal awarding Juventus a penalty:
With both teams heading into half-time a goal apiece, Madrid would have been
the more happier side having scored an away goal and in the second half
Juventus started the way they played the first half attacking from the onset
and midway through the second half a brilliant counter attack from Juventus saw
Tevez and Morata against two Madrid defenders and Tevez dribbled his way into
the penalty box only for the Madrid defender to trip him and the referee had no
choice but to award Juventus the spot kick. Carvajal must be feeling lucky as
he was not sent off and even did not receive a yellow card to which Juventus
midfielder Arturo Vidal did not take lightly and voiced his frustrations to
referee Martin Atkinson which saw him receive a yellow card for protesting the
same went to Madrid defender Marcelo too. Carlos Tevez stepped up and coolly
smashed the ball in the center sending Casillas the wrong way.
5. Chiellini solid defending: The Juventus
center-back put up an impressive display with a commanding performance,
frustrating the Madrid attackers by warding off their threats and also put his
body on the line with crunching challenges.
Joshua Ronald Ivan, follow him on Twitter.
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