How Juventus' Diamond Can Stop Barcelona's Messi-Suarez-Neymar Attack

The curtain is about to come down on the 2014-15 season, but before it does, the biggest prize in the European game needs to be awarded on Saturday, with the Champions League final between Juventus and Barcelona.

Regardless of the result, both teams have had compelling, exciting and memorable campaigns thus far. Both are now chasing trebles, having won the league and cup in their respective domestic divisions.

For Juventus, Serie A dominance might be an expected eventuality, but as Bayern Munich showed, even the very dominant don't necessarily extend that domestic superiority into European competition.

Juve's campaign has exceeded most people's expectations, and nobody can say they have had an easy passage. To reach Saturday's final, they had to see off Borussia Dortmund, Monaco and Real Madrid in the knockout stages.

That said, Barcelona will start as favourites in most people's eyes, and perhaps rightly so. La Liga is stronger overall than Serie A, and the Catalan club have one of the most balanced, focused and explosive sides ever constructed.

Even so, is the difference as great as it is being made out to be? Juventus did, after all, beat Real Madrid in the semi-finals. In two fixtures against last year's Champions League winners, Juve didn't lose on either occasion: a 1-1 draw away and a 2-1 win at home against the side who finished this season's La Liga campaign only two points behind Barcelona.

Juventus have no reason to fear Barca, even if the Blaugrana are overall the technically better team, and The Old Lady can be justifiably confident of keeping the vaunted three-pronged attack of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez at bay.

Part of that confidence will stem from Real's failure to break Juve's defence down consistently. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice over the two legs, but he is one of the world's best, and one was a penalty while the other came from a yard out. Real saw lots of the ball in promising areas but didn't really create great swathes of outstanding, clear-cut chances—and this is a team that scored almost 120 goals in league play alone, with another 24 in the Champions League.

Against Barcelona, the 90 minutes will require even more concentration, positional awareness and tactical cohesion from the Italian side to keep that South American front three under wraps.

Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri typically uses one of two systems: a back three with wing-backs, or the midfield diamond—the system they went with in both the Champions League semi-finals and the Coppa Italia final.

Given that the midfield diamond already proved effective against a top opponent in Real Madrid, going with that system again seems the more sensible and likely approach. If needed, Juve always has the option to revert to three at the back.

@karlmatchett

The four-man midfield still leaves plenty of space for the Juve full-backs to push on in attack, while the likely arrangement in the middle will see Andrea Pirlo central, Paul Pogba to the left, Arturo Vidal on the opposite side and Claudio Marchisio further upfield. It is a hard-working, technically blessed quartet with power and energy aplenty distributed across the pitch.

Without possession, the Bianconeri midfield will often settle into a flat three across a narrow area, closing down space while Marchisio drops to whichever side he is needed to further stop through-ball opportunities by the opposition.

That will be of particular importance against Barcelona, on account of their main methods of attack.

The nearly unstoppable trio of Neymar, Suarez and Messi have not just the work rate and talent between them, but also positional rotation and Messi's playmaking in deeper areas. Because Suarez occupies the centre-backs by himself, constantly moving and opening his body to receive a pass facing goal or quickly link play, other defensive players have to become involved to stop the wider Barcelona frontmen.

@karlmatchett

Juve must be prepared to neutralize the Messi-Neymar connection that has tormented defences all season long. Messi drops from the wing into the channel, assuming an attacking midfield position slightly right of centre, while Neymar drives on through the defence to create a diagonal. The quality and timing the two have in that movement has caught out many back lines this year. It is almost like a set-piece play which the opposition know is coming, but still can't do anything about.

To stop that and the inevitable shooting chance it creates, the wide Juve midfielders become paramount. Pogba must drop deep to prevent Messi from finding that space to dribble into the box or chip his pass over, while either Marchisio or Vidal will have to track the run of Neymar—or at the very least drop into the space to block off the run.

If right-back Stephan Lichtsteiner is charged with actually tracking the Neymar run, Vidal could spend a lot of time as a stop-gap right-back to subsequently mark or block off the secondary threat from attacking left-back Jordi Alba.

It's not all about the front three for Barcelona, of course. Almost from the first game of the season, Ivan Rakitic has been an absolutely pivotal part of the Catalan club's reformation. He will pass earlier and more directly, he will run further beyond the forwards, and he will shoot from range at times—all dynamic aspects of play that Pirlo will have to deal with.

Going forward, Juventus can be as expansive and entertaining as many sides with the offensive qualities possessed in that quartet, even before considering the likes of Carlos Tevez up front. They cannot, however, go toe-to-toe with Barcelona in trading attacks and expect to lift the trophy.

First, they must stifle the flow and movement of the Blaugrana attack; only then will chances to exploit spaces be presented to them.

In Pogba, Vidal, Marchisio and Pirlo, the Italian side have four technical players of immense ability, but it is their tactical dedication, endurance and focus in a defensive capacity that will dictate whether Juve can even begin to challenge for the trophy this time, or whether Messi and Co. will be out of reach long before the final whistle goes.

Follow @karlmatchett