Underappreciated Carlos Tevez Is Juventus' Galactico

There are some who would describe this season’s Champions League semi-final line-up as being composed of the best three teams on the planet, plus Juventus. Many, more pointedly, would suggest that Juve’s opposition is just a subordinate clause prefacing Real Madrid’s second successive final, with Carlo Ancelotti and company likely to make short work of his former club before embracing their destiny of reaching the Berlin final. 

Whereas this Juve side may not quite inspire the dread outside Italy of their 1990s counterparts under Marcello Lippi (and it remains an anomaly that they only won one title in three successive attempts between 1996 and 1998), they are a force to be reckoned with. El Real may have the names in the shape of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, James Rodriguez and the rest, but Juve have their own superstar.

Carlos Tevez is often absent from debates on which players number among the world’s greatest, but he really shouldn’t be. It seems equally ridiculous to say that he could make this week’s semi-final one of the defining moments of his career, given that he is one of only seven players in history to have won both the Champions League and the Copa Libertadores.

Yet there is a sense that the time is right for another reminder of Tevez’s brilliance. It is something that has been apparent on an almost weekly basis in Serie A for going on two years. He comes through at exactly the moments when Massimiliano Allegri and his team need him the most, whether it be the floated free-kick against Roma at Stadio Olimpico, the close-range sledgehammer to crack open stubborn Empoli or the dead-eyed slot against Lazio, to name but three.

As much as one can only admire the enduring quality of Luca Toni and Mauro Icardi’s rising talent, it would be a travesty if anyone other than Tevez won the title of Capocannoniere (Tevez currently has 20, two more than each of the aforementioned chasing pair).

Add to those goals a further seven assists (from a total of 28 starts), plus six in the Champions League and a further two in Coppa Italia action, and it’s clear exactly how pivotal he still is to Juve’s direction, even at 31. Frankly, the suggestion that Palermo’s Paulo Dybala (a recognised transfer target for the Bianconeri) is a ready-made replacement—even acknowledging the young Argentinian’s progress and potential—is fanciful at this stage.

VICTOR R. CAIVANO/Associated Press/Associated Press

There are a whole host of reasons why Tevez isn’t quite as respected as he should be. His stop-start international career with Argentina is the only one of them that’s really grounded in football. Most of the others at least partly relate to his longtime partnership with agent Kia Joorabchian, the author of Tevez’s extraordinary arrival in Europe with West Ham in 2006 and widely presumed as the motivating factor behind his later departure from Manchester United to Manchester City.

At City, there was also the image of Tevez as a deserter as well as a mercenary, when he went AWOL for a midseason sojourn back to Argentina, as recorded here by BBC Sport. When on the pitch, however, his commitment and energy has always been beyond reproach. One of Roberto Mancini’s smartest moves as City boss was to quickly forgive Tevez, and he went on to make useful contributions in the successful Premier League title run-in of 2012.

Tevez is the real deal, and he always has been. What he hasn’t been, until this season at least, is prolific in the Champions League. His superb free-kick against Malmo in September was his first goal in the competition since the opener for United against Aalborg in December 2008.

Perhaps premier among this season’s half-dozen was the opener against Borussia Dortmund in the last-16 return leg at Signal Iduna Park. Not only did it help return Juve to the last eight, but it re-established a genuine authority in Europe. They were to be admired, and feared, once more.

So it’s little wonder that director general Beppe Marotta sees “no reason” why Juve would agree to end Tevez’s deal a year before its 2016 expiry, to facilitate an expected eventual return to his first love, Boca Juniors, as per Radio Rai (h/t Football Italia). He is Juve’s galactico, and Real Madrid must handle him with care this week.