Sometimes, the world of football is so elusive.
Sevilla, who were still in danger of relegation to La B a month ago, came close to taking away a win at Juventus' home stadium, and the difference was actually only the accuracy of the last two matches.
And in this month, Sevilla also eliminated Manchester United, the favourites to win the Europa League.
Although Allegri guessed that Juventus would meet Sevilla in the semi-finals, he certainly did not expect his side to play so hard at home.
Part of the reason, of course, is in Seville, and part of it is itself.
AC Milan were quickly opened by Inter Milan at their nominal home stadium in yesterday's Champions League semi-final, and if it weren't for the help of the postpost and VAR, they might even have faced a 4-0 deficit in the first half.
In today's Europa League semi-final, Allegri made a similar mistake.
In the opening stages, Juventus played very aggressively and invested a lot of manpower, which gave them a great advantage in the advance and attacking stages:
There is nothing wrong with winning at home, and it is a common way for many teams and coaches to start, and in terms of performance, Juventus did play a chance.
The question, however, is whether this intensity will be maintained after the opening period? The answer to this question should actually be considered from many aspects, one of which is how strong is the opponent's attack?
In the 14th minute, Sevilla FC used a long pass to the back point, and Ocampos formed the goal:
This shows that Sevilla does not intend to be beaten all the time, and they still have the means to fight back.
In addition, another aspect to consider is whether your own backfield can afford to invest a large number of people in the midfield into the offensive end?
This is doubtful, as just 15 seconds before Ocampos' header, Sevilla pushed in from the left:
When Brian Hill stepped in behind him, Locatelli actually pointed out, intending to hand over defensive responsibilities to his teammates at the back:
However, when Sevilla FC passed the ball to Brian Hill, it was Locatelli who came to defend.
This is not difficult to understand, because Locatelli was going to transfer the responsibility to Danilo at the time, but behind Danilo is Bonucci, the former can go to make up the defense, but in this way, Bonucci will have to face Sevilla FC's striker in a large space, whether it is based on the defensive principle of defensive centering, or based on the idea of protecting veteran teammates, Danilo did not choose to supplement in the end.
So in the 16th minute of this defense, Brian Hill had entered Danilo's defensive zone, but the latter pointed and handed over the defensive duties to Miretti, and he still did not choose to go out to stare, but stayed inside:
Taking advantage of this corner kick, Sevilla scored again:
So based on this situation, Juventus should actually choose to gradually recycle, not conceding the goal in the opening game like AC Milan, there is already some lucky component, but they may still underestimate Sevilla at home.
After all, in the 19th minute, Juventus attacked in front of the goal and looked very close to the goal:
But then Sevilla were able to play back and the game became open:
Finally, in the 25th minute, Sevilla FC turned back directly from Sandro and took the lead away with a counter-attack:
It is unrealistic to expect Bonucci to follow Ocampos in a large space, so it is clear that Juventus paid the price for his own aggressiveness.
In addition to the problem on the defensive end, Juventus is not as efficient in attack as they think, most notably Vlahovic:
As a sudden center, not only can he not receive such a ball, but in the 19th minute of this opportunity, we do not mention whether this attack is suspected of offside, the ball comes in from the right side of the body, Vlahovic actually wants to use the left foot to complete the shot with the outside instep of the left foot for the first time, so the shooting action is very awkward:
If he could score like this, he would never be where he is now, which directly shows how unconfident he is in his own inverse.
After Sevilla's goal, when Juventus needed the center most to open up space, the latter directly became invisible, which made the task of receiving the ball fall on teammates such as Di Maria at the end of the first half:
So in the second half of the first half, Sevilla basically did not put much pressure on the defensive end, but their attack played more loudly:
Allegri can certainly see his problems, but already behind at home, there is not much point in correcting defensive mistakes, he can only make mistakes.
Coming back in the second half, he replaced Chiesa Jr. and Ilyin and tried to put more pressure on Sevilla on both wings, which was normal, but Chiesa Jr. and Ilyin could only rely on their youth and momentum to push Sevilla back:
But to expect them to help the offensive end from the wing is to think too much.
In fact, after Sevilla FC lost Ocampos, especially in the second half, the threat and efficiency of attack have dropped very clearly, and N-Nesri has become alone.
So during this time, Juve can no longer feel the pressure at the back, and can safely attack boldly, but Vlahovic, Chiesa Jr. and Ilyin are three reckless men, it is difficult to play any decent attack, so Allegri can only continue to change.
Replace Milik and Pogba, both have the effect:
However, as a result, Juve's front court, especially in the middle, the three big men of Milik, Pogba and Rabiot, have all come together in a pressing positional battle environment, and there is a serious lack of connection and interspersion of small players in the middle:
So by the end of the game, Juve's attacking routine was actually only a wide cross:
Among them, there are also many players whose running positions coincide, forming the embarrassment of one plus one less than two in local positions:
A rare straight shot in the middle, which was eventually blocked because Milik couldn't shake off the angle:
So, Juventus were able to equalise in the last attack and avoid a loss at home, which actually had a big luck factor.
However, luck is on Juve's side, and it is not for nothing. We previously mentioned in the 1/4 final that Sevilla's central defender combination is not solid, it can be said that the ability is not strong, which is reflected in the obvious low efficiency of Juventus' attack, and the pressure and consumption on Goodley and Baday are not large, but the last header competes for the top, Bady still made a mistake, which indirectly led to teammates being forced to send corner kicks:
It was in this corner kick that Sevilla dropped another point and Juventus scored:
Throughout the game, it's hard to say that Juventus were the better side, because even a good start to attack was based on huge risks at the back.
It is precisely because of this that Juventus conceded the ball first.
In this game, Juventus has never solved the problem of attacking up front. Vlahovic was a bad starter, and Chiesa Junior and Ilyin were also average at half-time, and then in the fight stage, they were forced to form a phenomenon of big men getting together, and pulling them out alone had an effect, but together they affected each other.
Had it not been for Sevilla's mistake under pressure, Juventus would have struggled to get even the equaliser corner.
However, you also say that Sevilla FC played the better side throughout the game.
Of course, in the 30 minutes that Ocampos played, Sevilla played well, but after Ocampos came off, Sevilla were very average, but they could make Juventus play badly, which actually achieved their goal.
To achieve this, they have been very precise in mastering the refereeing scale, constantly interrupting Juve's attacking rhythm with fouls and big moves, which masks their defensive flaws well.
Juve will certainly not be happy with that, but that's the trend now, so in the second leg they could face greater difficulties away from home.
The first 30 minutes of this failure may affect the final outcome of both rounds.