Cambiasso red overshadows latest Juve win

1Apr 2013

Betfair

Juventus took another step to Scudetto success but their Champions League opponents are in ominous form, writes Ben Lyttleton...

This was the weekend that Bayern Munich could have clinched the Bundesliga title; but after Borussia Dortmund beat Stuttgart 2-1 on Saturday afternoon, Bayern's inevitable success will have to wait another week. Still, they gave their opponents in Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final, Juventus, notice of their current form with a stunning 9-2 demolition of Hamburg.

Juventus had an altogether tougher game, but they took another step closer to defending their Scudetto title after a controlled 2-1 win at Inter Milan. This could have been a tricky afternoon for Juventus; instead, they always looked the better side after taking an early lead through Fabio Quagliarella.

When Antonio Cassano equalised for the hosts, it did not take long for Juve to hit back: the visitors capitalised on an error from Andrea Ranocchia and Alessandro Matri bagged what turned out to be the winning goal. Juve are now nine points clear of Napoli with eight games left to play; Napoli were also involved in a thrilling game, beating Torino 5-3 after Edinson Cavani came off the bench to score two dramatic late goals. Juve are 1.06 to hold on to top spot, with Napoli 22.0 to cause an unlikely shock.

For Inter, it was a bad loss, as AC Milan's 1-0 win over Chievo now leaves them ten points short of third spot and a place in next season's Champions League. Fiorentina also lost at Cagliari, and Milan have a six-point cushion in third.

There was late drama at San Siro when Esteban Cambiasso was sent off for a terrible lunge on Sebastian Giovinco. Cambiasso apologised to the player in the Juve dressing-room after the game, and pointed out that it was his first red card playing in Europe - this was game number 277 for Inter (and he spent two years prior to that at Real Madrid). "I know my tackle was late, but I did not mean to harm him. My past career speaks for itself, I have said sorry and the Juve players understood that, otherwise they would have attacked me when I spoke to them."

Cambiasso's speedy admission of guilt is relevant given that this month has seen two horror tackles in two different leagues treated very differently: in France, Saint-Etienne's Valentin Esseyric was banned for 11 games for snapping Nice's Jeremy Clement's ankle, for which he apologised immediately; while in England, Newcastle's Masadio Haidara is still, reportedly, waiting for an apology from Callum McMamanan after a dangerous tackle that ruled him out of that game.

Cambiasso's conduct called to mind an interview that his former team-mate Wesley Sneijder gave to Dutch magazine Voetbal International about his role models for certain elements of the game: in terms of physical power, Sneijder mentioned Michael Essien; for technique, Xavi; for vision, Jari Litmanen and for mentality, Cambiasso. "He's a true leader and mentally strong like an ox," said Sneijder. "He coaches constantly and is constantly yelling and keeping the team together. Sometimes annoying, but he knows that too, of course."

The good news for Juventus is that Giovinco should be fit to play some part against Bayern on Tuesday. The bad news? Bayern are looking more like the side that beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates as opposed to the one that lost 2-0 to the Gunners three weeks later. Bayern are 1.67 to win the first leg, with Juventus 7.2 while the German champions-elect are 1.59 to reach the semi-finals, with Juventus 2.68.

"We are running out of superlatives for this team!" wrote Bild after Bayern's win, the third-best in their history and the highest-scoring game in the Bundesliga since 2006 (Schalke 7 Leverkusen 4). "It was madness, incredible, outstanding... and a warm hello to Juventus," the paper wrote.

There was one word of warning, though, for the German side: seven of the 13 league goals they have conceded this season have come from corners. Juventus will be aware of that, and looking to take advantage.