played with more intensity and at a higher tempo, whereas in the first leg they conceded after 25 seconds, in the return leg Bayern had to wait 64 minutes for their first goal. The possession stats were also more close, Juve had 42% to Bayern's 58% and Gianluigi Buffon had to make 5 saves to Manuel Neuer's 3- much closer than before!
This was a great achievement by Juve and they have had a remarkable 18 months, after being in 7th place for 2 consecutive years they won Serie A and remained unbeaten and reached the Champions League quarter finals. And the reached that point by putting in a brilliant performance against Shaktar, knocking out reigning holders Chelsea and beating them with some style by 3 convincing goals and then clinically disposing of Celtic over 2 legs.
The previous games had caused Juve to show their quality, but the games against Bayern Munich showed what they were lacking- a consistent goal scorer. I have been a defender of Juve and the media's insistence that they need a " top striker", I had always believed that they had enough quality all over the park and that that was their main advantage. Against some teams that may be enough, like the game against Pescara where they don't have enough quality to punish you for the 31 missed opportunities, but for a side like Bayern who are more or less the most complete side in Europe, if you don't take your chances they will punish you!
The Old Lady had 12 shots and 3 on goal, and those 3 shots they had were saved by the German keeper. This isn't a thing to be ashamed of because Neuer is a top class keeper and very rarely does he ever make a mistake, so it is that much harder to score against him and let's not forget Juve were with their 2 best players in Arturo Vidal and Stephen Lichtsteiner- with them, who knows what could have been.
Juve have acknowledged how superior the opposition were and now that they have been tested against the best, they can only learn and get better. Juve were perhaps not fully ready for this game which take great class and humility to admit, but you can bet that they will be back next year having learnt a lot from this experience.
You live and learn....
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