Juventus – AC Milan: Brilliant Finishes Set Up Milan Victory In Vital Tie (0-3)

With the Serie A crown snatched from them, Juventus, and especially Andrea Pirlo, were under pressure heading into a clash where the usual issues going forward reappeared. A pair of sublime finishes halted periods of Juventus possessional momentum and a late Tomori header sealed the points.
Tactical analysis and match report by Julian Chingoma.

Another crunch game in the battle for the Champions League took place in the Serie A. The Napoli and Atalanta momentum rolled on during the earlier weekend games. Thus, the pressure on Juventus and Milan had heightened. Both sides were sitting on 69 points, in fourth and fifth place respectively. With four games left, defeat for either side would serve a significant blow to their hopes of securing Champions League football. 

It took late Ronaldo heroics for Juventus to get the points away to Udinese last time out. This clash was also the beginning of an intense fixture triple-header for Juventus. They were set to host the two Milan sides, with Sassuolo sandwiched in between. Meanwhile, Milan grabbed a Benevento win which stalled a two-loss skid.

Andrea Pirlo put out Juventus’ usual 4-4-2 formation. Wojciech Szczęsny was in goal while Juan Cuadrado, Matthijs de Ligt, Giorgio Chiellini and Alex Sandro were the backline. Federico Chiesa, Rodrigo Bentancur, Adrien Rabiot and Weston McKennie formed the midfield four as Álvaro Morata and Cristiano Ronaldo were the attacking duo.

In a 4-2-3-1 shape, Stefano Pioli sent out Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal. The back four consisted of Davide Calabria, Simon Kjær, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez. Ismaël Bennacer and Franck Kessié formed the double pivot. Two central midfielders next to each other. Brahim D . . .