Why Carlos Bacca vs. Andrea Barzagli Will Be Key AC Milan vs. Juventus Battle
AC Milan vs. Juventus. The latest instalment of one of European football’s biggest and most prestigious fixtures takes place on Saturday, the two Italian giants going head-to-head on the imperious stage provided by the San Siro.
Sadly, however, this once-great arena has come to all too aptly represent the ailing club it hosts, aging badly and in desperate need of repair. While the Rossoneri discuss possible renovations with neighbours Internazionale, the team on the field is almost certainly in need of an even more far-reaching overhaul.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Faced with a Juventus side that has gone undefeated in Serie A since late October, coach Sinisa Mihajlovic will approach this clash with some trepidation given Milan’s recent results. Sunday saw a 2-1 loss to Atalanta, and the Rossoneri are without a league win since beating Torino back in February, prompting a harsh reaction from the boss.
“We can only apologise to the supporters because this was an unacceptable performance,” Mihajlovic told Mediaset Premium after the Atalanta game (h/t Football Italia). “This is why we are going into a training retreat—at least until Saturday—to prepare for the match with Juventus."
The former Serbia coach will hope that punitive measure will bring the best from his players, but Milan—who sit sixth in the table and a staggering 24 points behind the Bianconeri in first—will almost certainly need Carlos Bacca to be at his best if they are to enjoy any measure of success against the reigning champions.
Per BBC Sport, the striker arrived at the club last July after Milan activated the £21 million buyout clause in his contract with Sevilla. He has since gone on to become their most potent attacking weapon. Netting 14 league goals—plus a further two in the Coppa Italia—Bacca has arguably been one of the most deadly strikers on the peninsula this term.
Gonzalo Higuain leads Serie A with a staggering 30 goals in 31 appearances, but according to statistics on WhoScored.com, he has taken an average of 5.4 shots per game to do so. The same source shows that figure ranks as the second-highest of any player in Europe’s top five leagues, trailing only Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo's 6.3 attempts.
Furthermore, Higuain’s tally is three times the number taken by Bacca, WhoScored.com showing the Colombia international averages just 1.8 attempts per game. His accuracy with those shots is highlighted in the Squawka graphic above, showing his 67 per cent rate as being markedly higher than the division's other top scorers.
Yet he is fully aware he must do more than just hit the target, explaining in a recent candid interview with the official FIFA website a forward is expected to do much more than simply find the back of the net in Italy:
"For a striker, Italian football is tough. But the coaching staff have put faith in me, my team-mates have helped me a lot and the club has made things easier for me—and bit by bit the results are coming.
For a striker here, it’s difficult to stand out just in attacking terms, just in terms of goals. Here, a striker has a lot more work to do tactically, in supporting other areas of the team’s play. But I was really excited about coming and playing in Italy and I’m enjoying every day of it.
"
There are certainly areas in which Bacca could improve his contribution, with the Squawka graphic below noting no fewer than 12 of his 14 goals have come via his favoured right foot. Bagging just one each with his head and his left boot, he could work on his finishing with those to become even more lethal.
But Milan are fortunate Bacca has shown he does have more to his game that just goals, also weighing in with two assists. Numbers from WhoScored.com show only Giacomo Bonaventura (2.2) and Keisuke Honda (1.3) have created more scoring opportunities than the Colombian's average of 1.2 per game this term.
The same source indicates the 29-year-old could do more when his side lose the ball, however, his poor averages of 0.3 tackles and 0.2 interceptions per game perhaps hinting at something of a problem ahead of the clash with Juventus.
Bacca will line up opposite Leonardo Bonucci and Andrea Barzagli, two men among the best ball-playing central defenders in Serie A. Their club’s official website recently revealed Giorgio Chiellini had been ruled out for 20 days with a torn thigh muscle, meaning coach Massimiliano Allegri is likely to go with a four-man defence on Saturday.
That will see almost certainly see Bacca go head-to-head with Barzagli, who has averaged 61 passes per game, according to WhoScored.com, and he will relish the extra time in possession allowed by the Colombian’s apathetic approach to chasing the ball.
That figure sees the Juve man rank third-highest in the squad, trailing only Claudio Marchisio (66.4) and Bonucci (62.9), while he connects with an impressive 88.6 per cent of those attempts. Barzagli has also netted some key goals, scoring against Atalanta, as well as in his side’s Coppa Italia semi-final penalty-shootout victory against the Nerazzurri.
His spot-kick helped seal Juve’s date with Milan in the final of that competition, but it has undoubtedly been his defensive contribution that has most caught the eye. According to WhoScored.com figures, the 34-year-old has averaged a respectable 0.9 tackles, 2.5 interceptions and 2.8 clearances per game while winning 1.2 headed duels per game this season.
His dominance in the air is further reinforced by the above Squawka graphic, showing Barzagli has triumphed in an impressive 63 per cent of such battles. The man himself is convinced his side is ready to clinch yet another league title.
“Until now we’ve done very well, but won’t have achieved anything unless we’re sitting at the top of tree come the end of the season,” he told Sky Italia in March (h/t the Juventus website). “From now on in, all the fixtures are very difficult, so we need to have the correct approach throughout, which is something I’m confident we’ll do.”
His contributions were also a major factor in helping Juve register 10 consecutive clean sheets earlier in the season—a new Serie A record—and have seen the defender earn the praise of his team-mates and appear ready to extend his stay with the Bianconeri.
Having broken the clean sheet record, Gigi Buffon took to social media to thank his fellow players (h/t Tom Sheen of the Independent) and said Barzagli “needs to be cloned." Shortly after, La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Football Italia) reported the club would offer the defender a new 12-month contract.
Both are undoubtedly deserved, and Barzagli will certainly have no fear for his chances of keeping the Rossoneri at bay when he steps out at San Siro, no matter how in form his opponent appears to be.
“It’s the match everyone wants to play in," Bacca noted in his aforementioned interview with FIFA.com. "We’re facing the league champions, the [UEFA] Champions League runners-up and the league leaders, who have truly great players. We’re really keen to do a good job on our home ground. I’m feeling good and I’ve come back [from international duty] bursting with confidence to try and do my bit.”
He will need to do just that if Milan—who last won at home against Juventus in November 2012—are to have any hope on Saturday evening, with Bacca’s battle against Barzagli likely to be hugely influential in the final result.
