Leipzig, Motta's countermeasure: in the Champions League a Juve from plan B

First tricky away game of the season against a big team: after Verona, Empoli and Genoa, here are the Germans who start at full speed at home

Juventus is looking ahead: partly out of DNA and partly out of necessity. The season of pauses, last time, due to the ban from the Cups, is fortunately only a memory. And so after the noisy three-nil inflicted in the silence of Marassi on Genoa, the Bianconeri already have their heads turned to Leipzig , where they will land tomorrow for the second Champions League match on Wednesday, at 9 pm. This Juventus that opens and closes the bag is called to interpret a Copernican revolution at its best. Not its own, but the one that the German opponent will propose. Because if in Serie A so far it has faced closed and buttoned up teams, not always by choice, in Germany Thiago Motta's team is awaiting a challenge destined to develop on completely different standards.

Juve, what to expect from Leipzig

Do you remember the first quarter of an hour of PSV at the Allianz Stadium, with the Dutch attacking with full strength? Well, let's imagine more or less the same score with a decidedly more rock rhythm and performers of a much better quality: not an opening band, therefore, but one of those accustomed to living at the top of the charts thanks to hits that enter your memory for a long time. So we will need a Juventus made up, or rather, modified, compared to the one that Thiago Motta has put on the field so far in the first six league games and in the Champions League debut. It is very difficult, in the challenge in Leipzig, to imagine a Juventus capable of keeping control of the game with a ball possession that usually fluctuates around 60%. A number that, in fact, also belongs to Leipzig , unstoppable in their own stadium with their passionate fans (two wins and a draw for 5 goals scored and none conceded), a score that added to what they have been able to do away from home allows them to be in third place after 5 days, two points from Bayern, the only club together with Leipzig capable of still being undefeated. Leipzig's only defeat of the season was in the Champions League, on the gong, at the home of Atletico Madrid.

Juve, how to stop Leipzig

It is therefore inevitable that Thiago Motta, together with his complex technical staff, is looking for the best countermeasures. To contain the opponent's fury on one side and not completely distort the identity of his Juve. Which, at least as far as the start of the match is concerned, will have to be able to withstand the impact of the muscles of Rose's team: with his 4-4-2 he has the wingers and the two forwards, first and foremost Sesko , as the most dangerous elements to watch out for. A nice compact, muscular and therefore dynamic midfield will therefore be needed to defuse Leipzig's weapons: thus the actions of Locatelli , who was rested perhaps for this very reason against Genoa, and Thuram , who warmed up at Marassi and then showed off in the last half hour, are increasing. In this more athletic Juve, where they will not give away centimetres even to try to win all the aerial duels, the contribution that Koopmeiners will have to be able to give will be even more fundamental . Never like on this occasion, on paper, will he be able to aim for those meters that he has never found so far to unleash all his horses with the ball at his feet. The same goes, in this sense, for Nico Gonzalez : the Argentine will also have the opportunity to attack the depth when the team has managed to recover the ball to quickly relaunch forward.

Juve, plan B is ready against Leipzig

So there is a Juve that for Leipzig is ready to embrace plan B and demonstrate that it knows how to interpret Motti's principles of play in a different tactical context. It is not a given that it can brilliantly pass this different test, even if doing so would mean increasing its self-esteem in a more significant way than ever. Transforming the German trip as a springboard for Sunday's match at the Allianz Stadium against Cagliari at lunchtime. Also because the long-distance duel with Conte's Napoli for the top spots in the standings has all the makings of the possible torment not of the summer, but of the football season...