Juventus Beat Monaco 2-1 (4-1 on aggregate ) to reach Champions league Final

There exciting sides, and there certainly have been higher scoring teama in the Champions League final but it is hard to remember one quite so formidable as the great Juventus team of 2017 which is now one game from winning the biggest prize in Europe.

They are in the ninth European Cup final of their history and there was no part of these two semi-final legs against this young and brave Monaco team when it ever looked like it would go another way.  Juventus are a team, and a club, who are coming of age again after the dark days of calciopoli in this their second final in three years and perhaps this will be their time in Cardiff on June 3.

It will, in all likelihood be Juventus against Real Madrid: the finest defence in the competition against Cristiano Ronaldo, the competition’s greatest ever goalscorer. Something will have to give and on the evidence of this remarkable containment job by the great three man backline of Leonardo Bonucci, Leonardo Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini, it could yet be Juventus’ turn to prevail.

No club has lost more European Cup finals than Juventus, with six, and yet you feel in this current part of their history they are close to the perfect machine when it comes to this competition. When at last Kylian Mbappe, the precocious young Frenchman did score for Monaco in the 69^th minute it was the first goal from open play in the 12 games played thus far in this competition that Juventus have conceded.

They were outstanding, with the full-back Dani Alves a goalscorer and a key figure in the first goal for Milan Mandzukic and never once did it look like Monaco would come close to wresting control of the tie back from the Italians.  Real Madrid may lay claim to be the elite European side of the last three years but Juventus, outside the wealthiest elite of the game, with a turnover smaller than the big five in the Premier League, have achieved something remarkable.

They will have a plan to beat whoever emerges from Real and Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night and the experience of that final defeat to Barcelona in Berlin two years previous to draw upon. Massimiliano Allegri headed straight down the tunnel at the whistle and there is no question that his stock is high now in a vintage era for Italian managers.    

The first half performance was a masterpiece in itself with Juventus’ containment of their visitors as complete as any team might hope against one of the paciest attacks in the Champions League, and then at the other end the home side took enough of their chances.

Juventus had six attempts on target before the break and scored with two of them, and it was only an outstanding performance from Danijel Subasic in the Monaco goal that stopped the Italian side making this an embarrassment. In fact of those four saves, one was a fine stop from Mario Mandzukic’s 33^rdminute header, from which the Croatian scored against his international team-mate with the rebound.

Juventus’ back three had contained Kylian Mbappe and Radamel Falcao for the opening stages and then around the mid-point of the first half they turned the tables with a spectacular sequence of attacks. Gonzalo Higuain, Mandzukic and Paulo Dybala were all denied by Subasic in quick succession before Mandzukic scored the first, heading down initially from Dani Alves’ cross.

It had been a wonderful move to find Alves, with the ball starting from a throw from Gianluigi Buffon and from there Juventus went down the left via Alex Sandro, Dybala, Pjanic and then right to Alves, whose cross picked out Mandzukic perfectly.

When Juventus click into gear they are an awesome attacking side, but it is the defensive side of it that demands respect. Leonardo Barzagli picked up Mbappe in a magnificent first half performance in which he limited the threat from the brilliant young Frenchman by edging him to the margins, pouncing early and always forcing his opponent onto the outside.

Only once did Mbappe look really dangerous when he ran onto a deflected shot and hit the inside of Gianluigi Buffon’s post when the goalkeeper had uncharacteristically come for a ball he was never going to reach. Mbappe was flagged offside subsequently and his first half was a story of gradual frustration with the grip Juventus’ defence exerted.