Juventus will be keen to do the double over Maccabi Haifa when they head into Matchday 4 of the UEFA Champions League group stages.
Italian giants Juventus got off the mark in the UEFA Champions League with a 3-1 win over Maccabi Haifa last week. While it kept their hopes of qualification for the Last 16 alive, the performance was by no means one-sided.
The scoreline largely flattered the Bianconeri as Maccabi Haifa got stuck in and struck the bar twice late on. One could argue that Juventus were holding on rather than comfortably seeing out a side they were expected to beat at home.
The Sammy Ofer Stadium will be bouncing on Tuesday as Maccabi Haifa try to keep their hopes alive of continued European football this season. They will be aware that a fourth straight loss will see them almost certainly miss out on even a third-placed finish, consigning them to the bottom place.
Maccabi Haifa, to their credit, have shown fight this season and have given Juventus, Benfica and Paris Saint-Germain enough reasons to worry about. Of the three, Juventus are the most vulnerable team and are yet to get going this season. Attacking them head-on could prove to be the best bet for Barak Bakhar’s men.
Massimiliano Allegri would have hoped that the win against Maccabi Haifa last week would prove to be a shot in the arm for his side. Unfortunately, that was not to be as AC Milan brought them crashing down to earth at the weekend. The Bianconeri will hope to respond positively, and a win at the Sammy Ofer will do just that. The Hard Tackle looks at how both sides could line up on the night and what tactics they might employ.
Team News & Tactics
Maccabi Haifa
Next stop: Matchday 4 🛫
M. Haifa 🆚 Juventus 🔜#UCL pic.twitter.com/oX2r6xkQ0s— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) October 10, 2022
Maccabi Haifa have shown much courage and taken the game to the other sides in the group. Unfortunately, luck and that small gap in quality has seen them fall short on all three occasions.
Omer Atzili and Dean David were impressive in Turin and could make a case to start the game on Tuesday. Barak Bakhar will be without Mahmoud Jaber and Suf Podgoreanu, both of whom are injured.
A 3-5-2 formation could be the order of the day, a flexible lineup that can revert to a 5-3-2 when not in possession. This will help them adapt to Juventus and swiftly change from defence to attack and vice versa.
Josh Cohen should start in goal, behind a back three of Abdoulaye Seck, Dylan Batubinsika and Sean Goldberg. The trio of Ali Mohamed, Mohammad Abu Fani and Tjaronn Chery will seek to win the midfield battle, giving others around them the foundation to push forward.
Pierre Cornud and Daniel Sundgren will start out wide, providing the width as wing-backs. Omer Atzili and Dean David will start up front, hoping to secure a famous win.
Probable Lineup (3-5-2): Cohen; Seck, Batubinsika, Goldberg; Sundgren, Muhammad, Chery, Abu Fani, Cornud; David, Atzili
Juventus
Massimiliano Allegri has endured a topsy-turvy season that has failed to gather any momentum. The loss to AC Milan at the weekend was another wake-up call to the Bianconeri, who cannot afford to let results slip away.
They struggled to a win against Maccabi Haifa last week and will hope that luck shines their way in the return fixture on Tuesday. Doing the double over the Israelis will keep their hopes of qualifying for the Last 16 alive.
Paul Pogba and Federico Chiesa are still out, and it will be a while before the duo returns to action. Mattia De Sciglio is also likely to be out, with Alex Sandro set to start on the left flank. Meanwhile, Juventus will likely deploy a 3-5-2 formation that is flexible.
Touchdown in Tel Aviv 🛬
🔜 #MACJUV pic.twitter.com/tj4E805QWr
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 10, 2022
Wojciech Szczesny will start in goal behind the back three of Gleison Bremer, Leonardo Bonucci and Danilo. Juan Cuadrado and Sandro will likely start as the wing-backs and will be entrusted with providing width.
Leandro Paredes will hold the fort in central midfield, providing Adrien Rabiot and Angel Di Maria the encouragement to push forward. Meanwhile, Filip Kostic should start upfront alongside star striker Dusan Vlahovic.
Probable Lineup (3-5-2): Szczesny; Bremer, Bonucci, Danilo; Cuadrado, Di Maria, Paredes, Rabiot, Sando; Vlahovic, Kostic
Key Stats
- Maccabi Haifa have lost all of their three meetings with Juventus so far.
- A win on the night will see Maccabi Haifa become the fourth club to experience four straight losses against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League.
- Maccabi Haifa had 20 shots against Juventus last week in Turin. It is only the second time since 2003-04 that an away side has had 20 or more shots in the UEFA Champions League.
- A loss on the night will see Maccabi Haifa become the third side to experience ten or more consecutive losses in the UEFA Champions League.
- Juventus have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last five UEFA Champions League games. It is their longest run without a shutout since 2013/14.
Player to Watch
Angel Di Maria
The Argentine was instrumental in Juventus’s 3-1 win last week and has largely impressed for Juventus since arriving last summer. He has built a solid partnership with Dusan Vlahovic and will once again hope to do justice to the playmaker’s role on the night.
Di Maria’s experience and technical prowess will be difficult for Maccabi Haifa to stem and will likely be Juventus’s brightest attacking spark on the night. As long as he shines, Vlahovic will have no shortage of opportunities to find the back of the net.
Prediction
Maccabi Haifa 2-1 Juventus
The Israeli giants have struggled to make their performances count this season and now take on a Juventus side that is coming off a poor loss. As long as Barak Bakhar’s men take their chances, they could yet spark the biggest upset yet in this season’s competition.
Juventus will be keen for a win but are likely to leave themselves open on the counter. As long as Maccabi Haifa score first, they have a reasonable chance of toppling the Bianconeri.
