Monaco vs Juventus Prediction 3 May 2017
On May 3 2017 at 19:45 in the first leg of the Champions League semifinal at the Louis II Stadium the local Monaco meet their guests Juventus.
Monaco weren’t considered to be the favorites of their group in the Champions League seven months ago. The bookmakers considered Bayer and Tottenham to make it to the play-offs. Yet, Monaco won their group and made it to the round of 16 from the first place and after that they outplayed Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund even though they were considered to be the outsiders of both of these games.
They are also thought to be the outsiders of the upcoming match against Juventus. We really wonder if they will be able to win again and surprise all of the experts and fans.
It seems to us that the performance of Monaco is pretty solid and that’s why we don’t think that they made it to the semifinal of the champions League due to some kind of a wonder. Anyway, we should admit that both Manchester City and BVB were convenient competitors for Monaco as they both are used to playing in open attacking football and that’s why they were vulnerable on counterattacks as they left a lot of space on their half of the pitch. That’s what let Monaco use their mistakes and outplay their previous competitors.
As for Juventus, they are very different, in fact. The Citizens and the BVB conceded 19 goals at the group stage taken together while Juventus only missed two goals in all of their 10 games played in the current season of the international competition including two play0offs matches. Moreover, they haven’t conceded for 531 minute. The matches against Barcelona showed that Juventus are ready to defend against any kinds of competitors; they know how to prepare for any surprises.
While Juve conceded 2 goals in their 10 matches played in the current season of the champions League, Monaco conceded 16. In other words, the Old Lady conceded one goal per 450 minutes while the Monegasques concede a goal per 56 minutes. That’s the actual difference between the teams. Monaco will surely concede at least one goal as they conceded in 9 of their 10 matches they played (except the home game against CSKA). Yet, we aren’t sure if the guests will manage to score as Juventus are extremely reliable in defense and the Monegasques were really lucky in the previous matches where most of their attempts were successful.
Anyway, our thought is easy to understand. Juventus are actually great in both attack in defense while Monaco have already showed a few unexpectedly good results, had previous competitors with horrible defense and were lucky more than skilled. We think that the fact that Juventus still have a lot to show and that they are really experienced in the international competitions of the highest level make them the favorites of the upcoming game. We don’t think that they are going to lose in their upcoming away game in Monaco.