After their fresh Champions League defeat, Juventus got analyzed by one of Italian football’s most legendary managers through the press.
The whole world was shocked when Porto eliminated Juventus last Tuesday, but not as surprised as this Italian legend. We are talking about the last coach who had one of the most dominant football clubs from the European Cup era. This is before the new Champions League format was created. Arrigo Sacchi is the man who created a dynasty in Italian football and is still considered one of the best managers ever. He obviously watched Juventus’ match against Porto and he was surprised by what happened.
As we all were. Due to his Italian blood, it is obvious he wanted the Bianconeri to win the round against the Portuguese side. But for Sacchi, this problem goes back a few weeks as Juventus has been dragging a few bad results in all competitions. One of the most important mistakes Juventus made, is to underestimate Porto at the biggest stage. Every single football club that gets past the Group Stage has to be considered dangerous. The Bianconeri didn’t see this from the first-leg and they paid a hefty price for it.
Sacchi’s analysis in full.
“I was surprised,” Sacchi told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Obviously, I hoped they would qualify and trusted they would after appreciating their second-half performance against Lazio last week. I thought, if they play Porto with the same intensity, they will get through. Instead we saw precisely what happened with Juventus in every other game, except for that second half against Lazio. They lacked intensity, didn’t play as a team, couldn’t attack or defend as 11 men. I will even say, which seems absurd for such an important game, they looked like they lacked motivation. It’s difficult to explain how they could be so incapable of making the most of playing against 10 men for 70 minutes. I fear Porto were underestimated.
“They are not a top European club at the moment, but they are well-organized, move harmoniously as a unit, play out from the back and have players suited to the style of football they want to play. They also showed great courage and motivation. If you are not organized and don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t quality despite being a man down for two-thirds of the game. Even that is not enough, Porto needed Juventus to show their limitations. The behavior of the wall on the free-kick for 2-2 was in a nutshell the problem with their motivation, team spirit and lack of unity.”
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