Champions League Final 2017 - Juventus vs Real Madrid.

This years UEFA Champions League final is one guaranteed to make history. Juventus, one of Europe's biggest sides, are chasing their first European title since 1996. And Real Madrid, the 11 time winners, are looking to become the first side in the Champions League era to retain the title of champions of Europe. Both sides have had very successful domestic campaigns so far. At the time of writing this Madrid need four more points to guarantee the Spanish title, and Juventus need to win just one of their remaining two games to win their sixth consecutive Scudetto.

Two true giants of European football will go head to head in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on June 3rd. This will be the 19th time the two sides have met in Europe, and with 8 wins a piece, so far there is no separating the Italian and the Spanish sides. The last time they met was in the semi-finals of the 2014-2015 Champions League, with then former Madrid striker Alvaro Morata staring and scoring in both the home 2-1 win and in the following 1-1 draw in Madrid, booking Juventus's place in that years final where they eventually lost to Barcelona. In fact, in recent history, Italy's most successful club have had the beating of Real. Winning 3 out of the 4 knock out ties since the year 2000, Juventus have proved difficult for Madrid to overcome. However when head to head record in the same time frame is looked at, Juventus have only a slight lead with 5 wins to Madrid's 4, and as a one of game is how the final in Cardiff will be decided, we could be in for a very close affair

The Champions League final is, without a doubt, the biggest and most prestigious club game of the season, and requires players who know how to shine when the pressure is at it's highest. Real Madrid have dominated this competition as of late, winning two of the last three Champions League's and with this being their third final in four years. In fact Real have played in five finals since Juventus were last crowned champions, and the Spanish giants have a 100% record in those matches, which includes a 1-0 victory against their upcoming opponents in 1998. Now Juventus have reached a very impressive four finals since 1996, however they have the exact opposite record to Madrid with a 0% success rate in those finals. In the big games Real step while Juve seem to struggle, the Old Lady have also only scored two goals across those games. Including the original iteration of the European cup Juventus have reached 7 finals, only winning two, where as Real have won 11 out of their 13 finals in European cup history, the most final appearances of any side.

History might put the ball firmly in Real's court, however despite history showing Juventus struggle on the biggest stage, this Juventus side might be the closest to the great side of 1996. Alessandro Del Piero, Fabrizio Ravanelli and current Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane just to name a few, the side that won Juventus's last European cup was littered with quality. However, while brought force and incredible attacking prowess won that competition, this years Juventus side have played with a style based on a rock solid defence. Leading into the final Juve have conceded just three goals throughout their campaign, with only one of those goals being scored from open play. With the likes of Giorgio Chiellini, Mehdi Benatia, Andrea Barzagli, Leonardo Bonucci, Alex Sandro, Dani Alves and Daniele Rugani amongst others, Massimoiliano Allegri has had the opportunity to rotate his defence at his leisure without risking a drop in quality. The has been however the three Italians at the back, Bonucci, Chiellini and Barzagli that have played the majority of the games and proven to truly be an almost immovable object. This incredible defence will however, like any, be beaten. But in this position Juventus are as assured as any side that they will be able to keep the ball out with veteran Italian Buffon between the sticks. Italy's record appearance maker Buffon has been an ever present in the side for over a decade and has this season, proved that like a fine wine he has only gotten better with age. At the age of 39 the Italian is yet to decide when he will hang up the gloves, much to the joy of the Juventus fans, and fans of world football. Gianluigi is a true great and by adding a Champions League winners medal to his extensive collection, he could be considered the greatest goalkeeper of all time, that's if you really need any more clarification.

Cristiano Ronaldo. Need I say any more? Any side with the three Ballon D'or winner amongst their ranks will always cause problems going forward. Today, 14th May 2017, Real Madrid brushed aside Seville 4-1 in the league, and surpassed two goal scoring milestones in the process. As well as Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his 400th goal for the club in just his 391st game, Zidane's side scored for the 62 consecutive match, a European record, surpassing Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich side from 2014. In all competitions five Real Madrid first team players have reached double figures for goals this season, and they have had an incredible 19 different goal scorers. When you look at their opponents in June, Juve have only two goalscorers on double figures. The likes of, of course, Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez, Isco (who is in a very rich vain of form at present), Former Juventus striker Morata and Garath Bale, Real have, much like Juventus have in defence, an incredible roster of attackers to call upon. And then you have Sergio Ramos. The man who would lift the famous trophy should Madrid be successful has a history of scoring big goals, including a stoppage time equaliser in the 2014 Champions League final. The Spanish centre back has 10 goals this season, a very impressive return for any non striker, let alone from a defender. If there is anyone who was going to trouble Allegri's defence in the air, it's this man. Then the case of personal pride slips in. Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lionel Messi. The biggest question in football and one which divides opinion like no other. Ronaldo is currently one goal behind Messi in the race for the golden boot in this years competition. Despite Messi's Barcelona being knocked out by Juventus in the Quarter finals, Ronaldo is yet to reach the Argentine's tally of 11 with Ronaldo still on 10 and you know that will be in the back of his mind on the night, for better or for worse.

Both teams involved in the final have two league games remaining, and both sides have the league title firmly within their grasps. Juventus need, as I previously mentioned, just one win to secure the Scudetto, where as Madrid need at least one win and one draw to pip Barcelona to the honour of Spanish champions. Juventus also have the matter of the Coppa Italia to deal with, on the 17th they will face off against Lazio for the first of what could be an historic treble for Juventus. Not only do they have one game more then Madrid in the build up to the final, Juventus's season runs for another week after Madrid's end, giving Real a week's advantage in terms of rest and recovery ahead of the game in Cardiff. Maybe however, this favours Juve as it will allow them to hold onto any momentum they create ahead of the showdown with Madrid. Should Juve win the domestic double ahead of the final, they have just 6 days to wait before playing to complete the treble, compared to Real who don't have a competitive game for over two weeks leading into the game in the Millennium Stadium. Neither side can risk resting their top players during the remainder of their respective run ins, and I'm sure both sets of players will have an eye firmly set on Europe's biggest fixture until the day itself.

Attack vs defence. Real Madrid vs Juventus. Spain vs Italy. We could see the Spanish champions vs Italian champions. The two best sides in their respective countries facing off against each other, this is exactly what the UEFA Champions League is for. It really is too close to call and we could be in for a classic, brute force vs tactical class.

The resurection of Seria 'A' - the Italian job

In the middle to late 1990's Italy's top flight was seen as the pinnacle of club football, with players such as Zinadine Zidane, Ronaldo, Alessandro Del Piero, Herman Crespo and Gabriel Batistuta, Seria 'A' was seen as the hot bed for footballing talent. However, despite relatively high levels of success between 2000-2010, the top flight of Italian football was in decline, both in its domestic competition and continental success. Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan won a historic treble in 2010 however, an aging side meant that the Italian giants could no longer produce against the other European sides such as Barcelona and Manchester United, the two sides that reached the next seasons Champions League final. With other front runners AC Milan stars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva jumping ship to the French champions PSG, and Juventus still feeling the backlash of the 2006 controversy which saw the old lady relegated to Seria 'B', the Italian top flight looked set to sink into insignificants on the European stage.


However last season, for the first time in five years, the Champions League final included a Italian side. Juventus. And despite the defeat to Barcelona, the old lady's performance in the competition shows that the Italian league is still showing signs of light! heading into the 2015/2016 season, Italian sides have been very active in the summer transfer window, and it looks very much like Seria 'A' is getting back to where it was. Today I will be looking at the front runners of Italian football and trying to see if those sides look like spear heading an Italian resurrection in European football.

We'll start with the champions, the old lady, the most successful domestic side in Italy, Juventus. Juventus have won the Seria 'A' title in each of the last four seasons, and have really taken advantage of the decline of the Milan giants AC and Inter. The old lady became the first Italian side in five years to reach a champions league final in 2015, eventually falling just short to Barcelona in the final, however, knocking out holders Real Madrid in the semi-finals really showed how far the club have came since one of the darkest periods in the clubs history. Following a match fixing scandal in 2006, Juventus where stripped of their 2004/2005 2005/2006 Seria 'A' titles and relegated to Seria 'B'. With the Italian giants having some of the worlds top stars signed at that point, playing in the second tier of Italian football was just not good enough, and certain top players including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Fabio Cannovaro, Patrick Viera and Lilian Thuram all left to find success elsewhere.




 Despite claiming the Seria 'B' title at the first attempt and achieving immediate promotion back to the top flight, Juventus would feel the backlash of their relegation for many years, struggling to attract top European names to join. This lead to the berlin based side having to promote from within, which in many ways turned out to be a blessing, with current first team players such as Claudio Marchisio getting their chance to shine. Italian striker Giovinco (now playing in the MLS) also forced his way into the team and was a solid starter for Juventus for a number of seasons. Giorgio Chiellini, who now is one of the outstanding centre backs in world football also found a new role in the side during the season Juventus spend in Seria 'B'. Many factors have lead to Juventus being able to recover their once great form since the 2006 incident. The continued brilliance of Italian number one Gianluigi Buffon, and the addition of world class players such as Paul Pogba and Sami Khedira have show that Juventus are once again a force to be reckoned with in Europe and despite starting this season weaker then expected domestically, a win away at English league leaders Manchester city on match day 1 of the champions league has shown that last seasons runners up have the possibility of going one better this time round.


Now lets look at last seasons runners up, A.S Roma. Roma have spent much of the last decade as a side that wasn't quite good enough, the side from Rome had to settle for Europa League (formally the UEFA cup) as a successful season. With many top players leaving Roma over the years, it made it very difficult for them to mount a serious and consistent title challenge. With first team players such as Eric Lamela, Alberto Aquillani, Jeremy Menez and Philipe Mexes constantly leaving the club, Roma had one constant, their club captain Francesco Totti. The Italian is a club legend, and is one of the most loyal players in world football, he has stayed at Roma throughout his entire career, despite many offers from much bigger clubs, offering much more money. Totti has been putting in fantastic performances throughout his career, despite his age, he is still the outstanding player in many of Roma's matches and is at large, a big factor in their resurgence of recent seasons.


At the start of the 2013-2014 season, Roma had a major over hall of their squad, with an incredible 31 players moving in and out of the Stadio Olimpico in that summer. And it appeared to have a major effect, with Roma finishing second in Seria 'A' and spent most of the season leading the way, only for Juventus to walk out champions towards the end of the season. The same fate awaited them in the following season, after making a brilliant start to the season, a poor run of form at the turn of 2015, saw Juventus again take over the side from the capital, and Roma failed to capture the title they looked like winning for a lot of the season.


A strong squad, combining the experience of legends such as de Rossi and Totti, potential of players such as Juan Iturbe, Kevin Strootmen and Radja Nainnggolan, has seen Roma recapture the quality of football which had been missing from Rome for a while. Rome right now look like the strongest challengers for Juventus's recent dominance of Seria 'A' and they have started this season showing the same sort of form they have been for a couple of seasons. A draw with last seasons treble winners Barcelona on match day one of the champions league has shown that they have the quality to really be a force in Europe, and help boost the quality of the Seria 'A' back to where it has been in recent years.


The final side I'm going to look at is the last Italian team to win the champions league, the 2010 treble winners Inter Milan. The reason I'm choosing to look at Inter instead of city rivals AC is because Inter are my tip to end Juventus's recent dominance. As I previously mentioned, Inter won a famous treble in 2010, becoming the first Italian side to achieve the feat and knocked Barcelona off of the top of European football by beating them in the semi-finals. Since the end of the 2009-2010 season, Inter have struggled to reproduce the form shown by Jose Mourinho's side. A combination of an aging squad, a lack of stability in the managers position and failing to hold onto star players has seen the side that had been dominating Italian football fail to qualify for the Champions League in any of the previous 4 seasons.


An 8th place finish at the end of last season saw Inter Milan reach a new low, failing to qualify for any European competition for the 2015/2016 season. This caused a drastic change for the Milan club, with many new stars being brought to the San Siro, as well as a large proportion of the squad leaving the club. With 39 players moving in and out of the San Siro in the previous summer, the squad that had failed drastically in the previous campaign, saw few survivors for the upcoming season, and it appears the changes have worked!


The additions of players such as Kondogbia, Miranda, Felipe Melo and Steven Jovetic has seen Inter win each of their opening four Seria 'A' games, leading to them leading the title at this early stage of the season. Without the distraction of Europe, Inter can spend all of their attention trying to regain domestic success and reclaim the Seria 'A' title.


Overall all of the sides mentioned today appear to be rejuvenating the Italian top flight and maybe soon we could see another Italian side leading the way in world football.