Juventus Full-Backs to Be Key to Champions League Progress over Bayern Munich

While Juventus will continue to focus their efforts on domestic matters over the next two months, their UEFA Champions League last-16 encounters with Bayern Munich will undoubtedly begin to enter Massimiliano Allegri’s thoughts.

The coach is fully aware of the task which lays ahead, with the German club in rare form thus far in 2015/16 despite injuries to some key figures.

Indeed, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery—having been the focal points of the Bayern attack for so long—have both missed long periods with injuries, prompting new faces to rise to the fore.

With that pair sitting out, the likes of Douglas Costa and Kingsley Coman have seized their opportunity to impress coach Pep Guardiola. The former was signed from Shakhtar Donetsk for roughly €30 million back in July, per BBC Sport, and has quickly shown he was an intelligent acquisition for the Bundesliga giants.

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In his first 20 appearances, Costa has already contributed five goals and nine assists, with Coman providing a fine balance on the opposite flank. Guardiola’s system and the more open style of play in Germany clearly suit the 19-year-old, who looks far more comfortable than he ever did while at Juventus.

The Bianconeri revealed via their official website that his switch to Bayern is a two-year loan at a cost of €7 million, with a clause allowing them to make the deal permanent at a further cost of €21 million.

That is a substantial return on a player who joined Juve just 12 months earlier on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, but one that is working out well for Bayern as he continues to develop his obvious talents.

Coman has weighed in with four goals and six assists of his own, guaranteeing that his former club are destined to face a lethal combination of wide players no matter who starts each leg of this knockout tie.

As it so often has been, Bayern’s wing play was key to their comprehensive victory over the Bianconeri two seasons ago, with then-coach Antonio Conte unable to find a solution to prevent his side from being overrun in those areas.

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Not only has his successor Max Allegri proved himself to be more tactically astute, he has also benefitted from the club investing in far better and more well-rounded full-backs—particularly on the left flank.

While Conte was forced to rely on subpar players in that role—Federico Peluso and Kwadwo Asamoah each starting one leg of that 2013 quarter-final matchup—Allegri now has Patrice Evra and Alex Sandro vying for the spot.

The former was excellent in Juve’s march to the final last term, but the latter is beginning to usurp him in 2015/16.

Sandro contributed match-winning assists against Torino, Milan and Manchester City, playing particularly well against the English club as the tweet below highlights (h/t Stats Zone), contributing to the attack while simultaneously ensuring that he never neglected his defensive duties:

According to the club’s official website, the 24-year-old arrived from Porto at a cost of €26 million and—alongside Stephan Lichtsteiner—is likely to be a key figure for the Bianconeri if they are to find success against Bayern.

Slowing the Bavarian side’s wingers is no easy task, but few clubs have a combination of full-backs who possess the pace, strength and intelligence of the Juve trio.

“We’ll do all we can to create the conditions to get to the next round,” Allegri told reporters at an AIC event this week (h/t Football Italia).

“If we win, we’ll be one of the candidates for the final,” he added, and while doing so would certainly send a message about the overall strength of Juventus, it would almost certainly be a victory built upon the play of their stellar full-backs.