UEFA Champions League 2022/23: How Benfica’s press underlined Juventus’ weaknesses – tactical analysis

Juventus’ poor run continues as they generated their second UEFA Champions League loss this season. Apart from being inconsistent in Serie A, where they have two wins and four draws in six games, they are struggling in Europe as well. They got defeated by PSG and Benfica and demonstrated a lack of character and a distinguished style of play, which made it difficult to counteract the collective efforts of their opponents.

Benfica, on the other side, are undefeated since last season, having won all of their last 18 encounters, making a huge statement in the CL as well. The team’s intense pressing and well-executed attacking strategy managed to trouble Massimiliano Allegri’s team and forced them into both individual and collective mistakes, which were crucial for the final 2-1 result.

Juventus’ struggles to escape the pressing situations were underlined again, which resulted in them being unable to create quality chances in front of the goal. Once the team realised they cannot pass through the opposition’s defensive mechanisms through positional attacks, they attempted to expose them on the counterattack but didn’t manage to reach the goal.

Bianconeri’s unclear strategy and Allegri’s inefficient tactical changes made it difficult for the team to keep the early advantage that Arkadiusz Milik gave them.

In this tactical analysis, we explain how Benfica dominated the opposition and why Juventus couldn’t respond to their actions.

Lineups

Juventus’ goal was covered by Mattia Perin, who initially had Danilo, Leonardo Bonucci and Bremer in a three-man defensive line in front of him. The midfield consisted of Fabio Miretti, Leandro Paredes and Weston McKennie, who were flanked by Filip Kostić and Juan Cuadrado. Allegri paired Dušan Vlahović and Milik in attack.

The manager initially set the team up in a 3-5-2 being short on players in certain positions due to injuries. The team were undoubtedly missing the likes of Alex Sandro, Manuel Locatelli, Adrien Rabiot and Wojciech Szczęsny, all regular starters for the Bianconeri.

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