Manchester United 2-1 Juventus: 5 Talking Points & Analysis

#2 Playing Alexis Sanchez up front certainly helped United

So close!

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.