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Manchester United embarked a dramatic turnaround at Turin to score two goals within four minutes and register a victory in a close tie against Max Allegri’s Juventus. The Italian side had been leading United by one goal, which was scored by their summer recruit Cristiano Ronaldo in the 65th minute.
United kept on pushing and were quite dominant in the final ten minutes of the game. Paul Pogba earned a free kick which was sumptuously converted by Juan Mata. Then, Ashley Young’s free-kick from the left flank created a chaos inside the box and the combination of Chris Smalling and Pogba helped in guiding the ball in.
The second goal was accordingly deemed as an own goal by Alex Sandro but United managed to hold on to this slight lead in the final five minutes where they could have notched the third one as Marcus Rashford failed to finish off a very easy chance in a 1v1 situation.
Here, we discuss the game in details as United completed a trademark comeback to instigate one of their greatest European nights in years.
#5 Jose Mourinho sets up to press high and counter with pace
There is a common conjecture that Manchester United are more fluid and mobile in attack when Romelu Lukaku isn’t present on the pitch. Well, Mourinho’s team had already paid the price for giving way too much respect to their opposition at Old Trafford a couple of weeks ago. So, it would have been quite predictable if the manager yet again set his team up to play in the same pattern.
There was an obvious change in approach and it began with the selection of players in the forward line. Anthony Martial was a sure starter due to his goal-scoring exploits in the recent past. However, by choosing Jesse Lingard and Ander Herrera in the attack and midfield, the plan was apparent to squeeze them out of possession high up the pitch.
In the last leg, Miralem Pjanic was afforded with too much time on the ball and the midfielder did well by spraying passes out wide and ensuring that their side were on the attacking front for the majority of the time.
As Mourinho had said after the AFC Bournemouth game, “We are not in control when we don’t have the ball”; United made sure that they recovered the possession and did not let their midfielders dominate the proceedings in this process.
Herrera tackled twice, cleared the ball thrice and blocked it once as he brought more stability in an oft-imbalanced midfield. As has been the case earlier too, Nemanja Matic seemed more comfortable playing along with the Spaniard whose defensive nous and energy let Matic focus shielding mainly the central defensive area.
Lingard put pressure on Alex Sandro and reduced the Brazilian’s overall impact to a significant extent. So, United precisely closed down spaces and blocked the passing lanes, thus recovering the ball and shifting it to wider areas and attack move ahead with pace.
#4 Victor Lindelof answering the calls for defensive stability
Lindelof had endured a troublesome start to the season as he was involved in horrendous mistakes made against Brighton and Tottenham Hotspur. Even after that, the Swede looked shaky and prone to committing a couple of unnecessary errors. His inability to come out victorious in physical duels was utilized appropriately by the opposition who stifled the former Benfica man by putting more men around him in and around the box.
However, after being given a good run of matches, Lindelof has finally seemed to settle properly dealing with United’s mismanaged backline. The signs of the same were there in the loss against Allegri’s team in the first leg itself. Now, the 24-year-old looks more composed and possesses a calmer head to instinctively decide which defensive action he is required to take in a tricky situation.
He has a deceptive pace, which means that Lindelof sprints to recover the ball well enough but it isn’t overtly visible either. Lindelof’s best quality is his tendency to control the ball on the turn and pass it out from the back whilst holding off the pressure exerted by the opposition. At Turin, he dealt bravely with every duel that came his way and was disciplined enough to ensure that the Old Lady didn’t have many clear-cut opportunities.
Though he was guilty of not getting closer and blocking the shots fired by Paulo Dybala and Pjanic, those were one-off mistakes which the lad would surely develop ongoing ahead. Currently, he is providing some assurance that the team desperately requires in the defensive line.
Lindelof was obviously overworked in certain spells during the game and he had to make eight clearances, the most by any player involved on the field. He had a passing accuracy of 88.2% and his growing confidence would definitely please Jose who has struck with the defender through these small difficult times on the field.
#3 Juventus wasteful on either side of Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal
Manchester United’s backline wasn’t particularly tested or troubled for a consistent stretch of time throughout the course of the game. There were spells of incessant pressure by Juventus but United seemed to find out a way from these situations on every occasion.
Luckily for the visitors, the Serie A Champions did not capitalize well on their set-piece opportunities either. Pjanic’s corners failed to clear the first man or simply did not have the required depth in them to result into an assist.
Though Paulo Dybala took better corner kicks later in the game, there was an innate calm in United’s box as each player stuck to their role and did not create a panicky situation like they often do. Sami Khedira hit the post as he was afforded too much space in the first half. The German international should definitely have done better.
Similarly, Pjanic and Juan Cuadrado were unable to hit the target from relatively easier chances that they were presented with on either side of Ronaldo’s goal. Well, a perfect long ball from Leonardo Bonnucci released Ronaldo who timed his run to perfection, accordingly avoiding the offside trap and unleashed a powerful volley which left David de Gea with no chance to save the shot.
Ronaldo’s shot just oozed class, finesse and finishing prowess of the highest order as he left a mark in the game with an astutely created goal from their veteran Italian defender.
In his run towards the goal, Ronaldo even managed to get one above Lindelof who was having a near-perfect match until then.
The Swede couldn’t trace the Portuguese international down and allowed him space and time to exploit and notch one above his former team. However, Khedira, Pjanic and Cuadrado’s missed chances would rue Juventus who were unable to breach De Gea and add more goals to the tally.
#2 Playing Alexis Sanchez up front certainly helped United
One of the main issues from the loss in the previous leg was the fact that Romelu Lukaku just couldn’t involve himself in structured passing moves, one-twos to breach Juventus’ backline. Comprising of two of the most intelligent, level-headed and experienced defenders of this time, you need to stretch the duo of Bonucci-Chiellini and move them out of their positions to create space and exploit in them.
Lukaku was way too static and couldn’t instil some slickness in constructing these passing moves. United have players like Pogba and Lingard who are excellent in playing one touch pass and move system thrive on playing off the focal point of attack. This is where the inclusion of Alexis Sanchez as the striker reaped rich dividends.
Mourinho had said after the Bournemouth game, “You know, the way I like to play is with three attacking players where there is not a clear definition of the winger as a winger. And I like the winger is somebody with a striker or formation or with a striker appetite and I always had that in my team with wingers scoring a lot of goals, sometimes even more goals than the striker.”
If this is actually the manager’s preferred system, then the trio of Martial-Sanchez-Lingard was the perfect players to carry out the required tasks. From the start of the match, they interchanged their positions very well and moved the ball ahead with assurance without risking losing it at a tricky position. Sanchez particularly, dropped deep to carry the ball higher up on the field and even shifted wider to the left flank to deliver some lateral deliveries into the box.
Lingard pressed the opponents and looked to play off Sanchez who held the ball up and involved the Englishman in the proceedings. The linkup between these three was very pleasant and well-drilled with Martial and Sanchez even coming close to break the deadlock.
The Frenchman had made his way into the box through a similar passing move but his attempt to put the ball at the far post went a tad bit wider. Sanchez was also released by a lobbed ball from Nemanja Matic but the former Arsenal star was just too short and missed the ball by a whisker.
The 29-year-old made some smart runs between the two central defenders and if given a consistent run of games up front, Sanchez could revive his goal-scoring instincts too. Against Juventus though, he had a major contribution and worked according to the manager’s game plan.
#1 Old Vintage Jose still runs the show at Turin
The Portuguese boss has been known to structure matches on his own and to be aware of what’s going to happen during the course of the game already. He prepares his team accordingly for certain specific situations in such hugely important matches.
Against Allegri’s team, his game-management was of the highest order. United weren’t asked to defend completely but they were well-trained to do so when required whilst avoiding any hiccups. The wingers dropped deep to collect the ball and the midfielders provided a good supply line for the wide men.
The most important aspect of approaching such matches for Jose is to maintain a clean sheet. For that, the team collectively needs to respond to the gaffer and defend solidly to close down the midfield spaces and recover the possession. Even Martial, who otherwise isn’t renowned for his defensive work-rate was right up for the task as he offered good cover for Luke Shaw and tracked back diligently to the manager’s delight.
The motive was to take the game as deep as possible and then use the substitutes to change the approach and thus take more shots on the goal. Ronaldo’s goal shook things up a bit but United were assured in possession even after that and it was the timely substitutes who changed the game for the manager.
As it was important for the visitors to take a point from the game, they undertook a more direct attacking outlook in the second half by putting Marouane Fellaini into the box and using the creative nous of Juan Mata. Martial and Pogba teed up brilliantly near the box and a foul on Pogba resulted in a free kick from a close, tricky position.
However, Mata, as he had regularly done before, lobbed the ball precisely over the wall and into the net with an incision that boasted of class and finesse. Though Mourinho said that the Spaniard was brought in for providing crosses to Fellaini, one could not ignore his free-kick taking abilities and creativity in the final third either.
As United drew level through Mata, they were more dominant in attack and earned another foul at the edge of the touchline on the left flank. Ashley Young put in an excellent delivery for Fellaini who engaged three players including Chiellini and thus leaving space for Smalling and Pogba to guide the ball inside the box.
Wojciech Szczesny has been prone to panicking during set-pieces and a mishap inside the box resulted in Sandro eventually having the final touch before the ball rolled into the net. It was a remarkable turnaround catalyzed by Mourinho’s ability to take the game deeper into the ninety minutes and using his players to perfection in the final 20 minutes to turn the tables in their favour.
He was incessantly abused throughout the course of the game by the crowd and Mourinho rightfully gave it back to them by making a gesture to the Juventus fans to speak more about him.
Although Bonucci and Dybala did not take kindly to this, it hardly mattered to the Manchester United boss who had scripted one of the most glorified European nights in the club’s history. This cockiness of Mourinho is what brings out the best from him and his team and the results of the same was visible eventually.
Don't write them off, mate!
