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#2 Juventus 0-3 Real Madrid (1st leg, 2017-18 UEFA Champions League Quarter Final)
Despite Real Madrid's domination in Europe, nobody expected them to dominate Juventus the way they did when they visited the Allianz stadium for the first leg of their quarterfinal.
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Zidane lined his team up in his favoured 4-3-1-2. However, the difference this time was when he'd usually give Isco the license to roam about in the final third, the Spaniard was advised to stick to the left side of the pitch.
Juventus' right side was proven to be their weak link by Pochettino in their previous game and as such, Ronaldo, Benzema and Isco tried to crowd around on that side of the pitch. Add Marcelo to the mix and Juventus had far too much traffic to deal with on their right. To enable Marcelo to do this, Casemiro kept dropping back into defence.
Real Madrid's efforts bore fruit and Ronaldo gave them the lead from an attack that came from the left. Subsequently, Real Madrid defended deep to keep Juventus away from their goal.
Juve started committing more bodies forward and started gaining momentum in the final third. However, Real Madrid kept restoring parity in possession by pushing Carvajal up the pitch and switching wings whenever the left side got overloaded. This caused Juventus to regroup and regain their narrow shape.
However, owing to the fact that their attackers were on the left side, Carvajal would eventually rotate the ball back into defence helping Real Madrid keep hold of the ball for longer.
Real Madrid were getting the off chance but now they were more focused on not giving space to Juventus down the middle and allowing them to progress down the flanks. Madrid kept sitting back and thwarting Juventus' forays down the wings. Juventus kept committing more bodies forward and it almost bore fruit but Real Madrid maintained their lead going into half time thanks to some Keylor Navas heroics.
The game freed up more in the second half and Zizou brought on Lucas Vazquez for Benzema. Isco shifted to the left wing and Vazquez was now providing width from the right.
Ronaldo then scored an absolute scorcher of an overhead kick and the whole stadium stood up and applauded his effort. Within a minute of the goal, Dybala got redcarded for shoving his studs into Carvajal's midriff. However, Allegri would bring on Cuadrado and Mandzukic for Khedira and Asamoah to look for a goal.
With a man short, Juve were forced to play long balls and Real Madrid scored their 3rd goal of the night. This one came from the left wing once again capping off an extremely satisfying night for Zidane and Los Blancos.
#1 Real Madrid 4-1 Juventus (Final, UEFA Champions League 2016-17)
This match tops the list because the Frenchman who is often questioned about his tactical nous made his team put the ball in Juve's net 4 times in a Champions League final- which is more than Juve had conceded all competition.
To counter Juve's 3-4-1-2 formation, Zizou lined his team up in a 4-3-3 setup with Kroos and Modric interchanging positions and playing on the left side and right side of central midfield respectively.
Juve's forwards dropped deep whenever they lost the ball to cramp Real Madrid's midfielders for room so that they couldn't create from deep in their own half. Carvajal was getting closed down by Alex Sandro with the occasional help from Mario Mandzukic.
Dani Alves and Barzagli stayed out on the right to quell the efforts of Real Madrid's trio of Benzema, Isco and Ronaldo with Marcelo also showing up to cause problems down the flank.
Juve were the better side in the first half as they attacked down the flanks and closed down the Madrid attackers as it was clear to every single Juve player what their role was. However, they could not stop Real Madrid from taking the lead as they scored from the only chance that they had in the first half.
Juve responded in kind soon after as Mandzukic scored an outstanding overhead kick to restore parity before half time. But Zizou had almost planned this game to perfection. After tiring out Juve in the first half, the Real Madrid manager took the leashes off his players and gave them the license to go out swinging.
They started pressing high up the pitch and Juve found it hard to maintain possession. It was just as hard for them to counter attack as they lacked the pace to penetrate the Real Madrid lines efficiently. The forwards were getting tired due to the defensive demands that were placed on them which needed them marking Madrid's centre halves.
As such, Real Madrid's central midfielders now had enough time and space on the ball every time they thwarted a Juve counter. This helped the Blancos to thrive thanks to the sheer quality in their ranks.
Zidane had been preparing his team for this game for a long time and was able to rotate his squad and rest his players so that they would be ready to fire on all cylinders on the night of the Champions League final.
Ronaldo, seeing how depleted Juve looked in the second half, kept going out wide to the right side and making runs inwards. Ronaldo scored twice on the night, with Carvajal and Asensio also getting a goal each to hand Real Madrid a thumping victory in the Champions League final.
