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| Monaco Vs Juventus |
Monaco have lost twice to Juventus in the Uefa Champions League, and will look to take a significant step towards improving that record when they welcome opponents who have never lost a two-legged tie to French opposition in 11 attempts.
One of Monaco's three previous Uefa Champions League semifinals ended in defeat against Juventus, although the Ligue 1 side did win the home second leg.
Monaco are aiming to reach the final for the second time, having got that far in 2003/04, following their last semifinal appearance. Juventus were last at this stage two seasons ago, when they went on to make the final – they are targeting a ninth European Cup final.
Previous Meetings
Monaco and Juventus have previous in Uefa Champions League semifinals, the Bianconeri winning 6-4 on aggregate in 1997/98, en route to losing to Real Madrid CF in the final. In the first leg, Marcello Lippi's Juventus triumphed 4-1 at the Stadio Delle Alpi where Alessandro Del Piero hit a hat-trick (including two penalties) and Zinédine Zidane added a late fourth.
Jean Tigana's Monaco edged the second leg 3-2, their scorers including Thierry Henry, who joined Juventus for an eight-month spell the next year.
Massimiliano Allegri's Juve also beat Monaco, coached then as now by Leonardo Jardim, in the 2014/15 quarterfinals, Arturo Vidal's 57th-minute spot kick in the first leg in Turin the only goal of the tie.
Match Background
Monaco
Monaco are in their fourth European Cup semifinal, and their first since 2004, when they beat Chelsea FC 5-3 on aggregate (3-1 h, 2-2 a).
Monaco have never won away in the European Cup semifinals (D1 L2). They lost 3-0 at AC Milan in a one-off tie in 1993/94 and 4-1 at Juventus in 1997/98, before that 2-2 draw at Chelsea in 2003/04.
In contrast, the Ligue 1 club have won both their home games in European Cup semifinals.
Jardim's team have won six of their seven home matches in this 2016/17 Uefa Champions League, the exception a 1-1 draw with Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the group stage. They have managed 16 goals in those seven fixtures.
Monaco have scored in all but one of their 14 games in this season's competition, only drawing a blank in a 3-0 matchday six defeat at Leverkusen.
The principality side have won three of their six matches at home to Italian visitors, drawing two. The sole home defeat came in Monaco's first tie against an Italian club, as FC Internazionale Milano won 3-1 in a 1963/64 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round second leg for a 4-1 aggregate victory.
Monaco's record in two-legged ties against Serie A opposition is W1 L5, with the one-off match against Milan in 1994 not included. The lone success came against AS Roma in the 1991/92 European Cup Winners' Cup quarterfinals (1-0 on aggregate). Their goalless draw in Rome that season was the only time they have avoided defeat in seven trips to Italy (W0 D1 L6 F2 A14).
Aside from their Uefa Champions League reverses against Juve and AC Milan, Monaco also lost to Inter in the 1996/97 Uefa Cup semifinals (1-3 a, 1-0 h) and UC Sampdoria in the last four of the 1989/90 European Cup Winners' Cup (2-2 h, 0-2 a).
Juventus
This is only Juve's second Uefa Champions League semifinal appearance since 2003, although it is their second in three years – in 2014/15 they beat Real Madrid 3-2 on aggregate (2-1 h, 1-1 a).
Juve's away record in European Cup semifinals is W1 D4 L6 – the sole victory came at Ajax in 1996/97 (2-1).
Juventus have won the home leg in all but two of their 11 European Cup semifinals (W9 L2).
The Bianconeri are yet to concede a goal in four knockout matches in this season's competition.
Juve have won four and drawn the other of their five away fixtures in this season's competition. They have kept four clean sheets on their travels, including a 0-0 draw at FC Barcelona in their quarterfinal second leg, shipping only one goal and scoring ten. They also equalled their biggest Uefa Champions League away victory on matchday two with a 4-0 triumph at GNK Dinamo Zagreb.
Allegri's team have already won in France this term, beating Olympique Lyonnais 1-0 on matchday three thanks to a Juan Cuadrado goal. The game in Turin finished 1-1.
Juve are unbeaten in six meetings with French sides, home and away, since a 2-0 loss at FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the 2009/10 group stage. Their record since is W4 L2.
Juve's record away to French clubs in European competition is W5 D3 L5; they have lost just once on their last five visits.
The Italian team have won all 11 of their two-legged contests against Ligue 1 opposition.
Juventus have won four semifinals against French opponents in Uefa competition. Aside from their 1998 triumph over Monaco, they beat FC Nantes at the same stage of the 1995/96 Uefa Champions League (2-0 h, 2-3 a) and Bordeaux in 1984/85 (3-0 h, 0-2 a) and got the better of Paris Saint-Germain in the 1992/93 Uefa Cup (2-1 h, 1-0 a).
The Bianconeri are on a 22-match (W13 D9) unbeaten home run in Uefa competition, dating back to a 2-0 reversal against FC Bayern München in April 2013.
Coach and Player Links
Allegri's first game as a coach in Uefa competition was against Ligue 1 opposition – a 2-0 home win against AJ Auxerre with AC Milan in the 2010/11 Uefa Champions League group stage. Milan also prevailed 2-0 in France.
Morgan De Sanctis was at Juventus between 1997 and 1999, making three Serie A appearances. He also played for Udinese Calcio, Roma and SSC Napoli in Serie A.
Andrea Raggi began his career in the Italian fourth division with Carrarese Calcio, the team Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon supports and also owned between 2012 and 2015. In Serie A, Raggi turned out for US Città di Palermo, Sampdoria, Bologna FC and AS Bari.
Raggi and Kamil Glik played for Bari in 2010/11, replacing Leonardo Bonucci who had transferred to Juve in summer 2010.
Glik joined Juventus's local rivals Torino FC in summer 2011, playing in nine Turin derbies (eight in Serie A and one in the Coppa Italia). He lost eight of those games, but helped Torino to a 2-1 victory on 26 April 2015.
Have played in France:
Match Facts
Monaco
Fabinho is available after a one-match ban.
Monaco are on a 13-match winning streak at the Stade Louis II.
Monaco have won 13 of their last 15 games. The exceptions were both losses to Paris Saint-Germain – 4-1 in the French League Cup final on 1 April and 5-0 in the French Cup semifinals on 26 April.
Kylian Mbappé has registered 18 goals in his last 18 appearances for Monaco.
Monaco have won 13 out of 13 at home this term when Radamel Falcao has scored.
Jardim's side have not drawn a home game since September.
The 5-0 loss to Paris halted a run of 29 matches in which Monaco had scored at least once.
Juventus
Sami Khedira serves a one-match ban in the first leg.
Juventus have lost only one of their last 22 fixtures, winning 17 of them.
Juve have won only two of their last seven away games.
Friday's 2-2 draw at Atalanta ended the Bianconeri's run of five successive clean sheets in all competitions. That game was Giorgio Chiellini's 300th Serie A appearance for Juve.
Eleven different players have found the target for Juventus in the Uefa Champions League this season.
Juventus have won 33 consecutive home matches in Serie A.
Winners of the last two editions of the Coppa Italia, the Old Lady will play SS Lazio in the final. It is scheduled for 2 June, but if Juve reach the Cardiff final it will be brought forward to 17 May.
Marko Pjaca will miss the rest of the campaign after tearing knee ligaments on international duty with Croatia in March.
On 21 April, Juventus agreed a €9.5 deal to sign Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, 19, from Boca Juniors until 2022.
Dybala extended his contract until June 2022 on 13 April.
WHAT THEY SAID?
Leonardo Jardim, Monaco coach
Juventus have a winning culture. They are well organised and physical defensively. In attack they are strong and they really only need two chances to score one. They are clinical and very good at set pieces. They are very hard to defend against.Like Buffon, I think we'll score at the Juventus Stadium. We scored three at Dortmund, three at City and also a couple at Tottenham. Juventus are very different to Dortmund and City, though. Those clubs are more attack-minded and less focused on defence. We'll need to pay attention to transitional phases. We'll also need to move the ball quickly going forward.
Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus coach
I hope we'll become the first team to beat Monaco in this stadium in this competition this season. They play very direct football and they're very different from the side we faced two years ago.
Monaco in 2015 were stronger defensively and now they're stronger as an attacking unit. Monaco score a lot of goals, especially at the end of matches. We'll need to produce two big performances.
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| Monaco Vs Juventus |
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